The Taliban released on Friday a British couple held in Afghanistan for more than seven months on undisclosed charges, an official said, part of a wider effort to get their government recognized internationally years after taking power.
The case of Peter and Barbie Reynolds, aged 80 and 75, underlined the concerns of the West over the actions of the Taliban since they overthrew the country’s U.S.-backed government in a 2021 lightning offensive.
The Reynolds had lived in Afghanistan for 18 years and run an education and training organization in the country’s central province of Bamiyan, choosing to remain in the country after the Taliban seized power.
Qatar, an energy-rich nation on the Arabian Peninsula that mediated talks between the U.S. and the Taliban before the American withdrawal, helped in releasing the Reynolds. The couple left Afghanistan on Friday, a diplomat said. The diplomat spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive negotiations in the case.
The Reynolds’ family members in the United Kingdom repeatedly called for the couple’s release, saying they were being mistreated and held on undisclosed charges. While the Taliban rejected the abuse allegations, they have never explained what prompted their detention.
A spokesperson at the Taliban government’s Foreign Ministry, Abdul Qahar Balkhi, said the couple “violated Afghan law” and were released from prison Friday after a court hearing, according to a statement he posted on X. His statement did not say what law the couple were alleged to have broken
Balkhi thanked Qatar for its “sincere efforts and mediation” regarding the couple who, he said, were handed over to Richard Lindsay, the U.K.’s special envoy for Afghanistan.
U.K. Foreign Office Minister Hamish Falconer expressed his relief that the couple’s ordeal had ended. The U.K. had worked intensively since their detention and supported the family throughout, Falconer said.
“The government’s ability to help those in need of consular support in Afghanistan is extremely limited. Our travel advice is clear that individuals should not travel to Afghanistan,” he added.
In July, United Nations human rights experts warned the couple’s physical and mental health was deteriorating rapidly and that they were at risk of irreparable harm or even death.
Earlier this month, the Taliban said they had reached an agreement with U.S. envoys on a prisoner exchange as part of an effort to normalize relations.
The meeting came after the Taliban in March released U.S. citizen George Glezmann, who was abducted while traveling through Afghanistan as a tourist.
