Elderly British couple held for months by Taliban reunited with daughter

An elderly British couple who have been freed after being detained by the Taliban earlier this year have been reunited with their daughter.

Barbie Reynolds, 76, and her husband Peter, 80, were detained by the Taliban’s interior ministry on 1 February as they travelled to their home in Bamyan province, central Afghanistan.

In March, they were moved to a maximum security prison in Kabul where they had been held without charge.

In the final stages of negotiations they were transferred to Kabul’s central prison.

They were safely released from detention on Friday and flown to Doha following mediation led by Qatar.

As they touched down in Doha, Sky correspondent Sally Lockwood said she saw the “joy” on Mrs Reynolds’ face as her daughter Sarah hugged her on the tarmac.

She told Lockwood it was “wonderful” to have arrived in Qatar.

Earlier, Sky correspondent Cordelia Lynch was at Kabul Airport as the freed couple arrived and departed.

Mr Reynolds told her: “We are just very thankful.”

His wife added: “We’ve been treated very well. We’re looking forward to seeing our children.

“We are looking forward to returning to Afghanistan if we can. We are Afghan citizens.”

Asked by Lynch if they had a message for family and friends, Mrs Reynolds replied: “My message is God is good, as they say in Afghanistan.”

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer welcomed the news in a statement thanking Qatar.

“I welcome the release of Peter and Barbara Reynolds from detention in Afghanistan, and I know this long-awaited news will come as a huge relief to them and their family,” he said.

“I want to pay tribute to the vital role played by Qatar, including The Amir, His Highness Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al Thani, in securing their freedom.”

Richard Lindsay, the UK’s special envoy to Afghanistan, told Lynch it remained “unclear” on what grounds the couple had been detained.

He said they were “very relieved to be going home and delighted to be reunited with their family”.

Asked about the state of their health, he said: “I am not a doctor, but they are very happy.”

He added the British government’s travel advice to the country was clear. “We advise British nationals not to travel to Afghanistan. That remains the case and will remain the case,” he said.

Abdul Qahar Balkhi, a spokesperson at the Taliban government’s foreign ministry, said in a statement posted on X that the couple “violated Afghan law” and were released from prison after a court hearing.

He did not say what law the couple were alleged to have broken.

Qatar, the energy-rich nation on the Arabian Peninsula that mediated talks between the US and the Taliban before the American withdrawal, helped in releasing the Reynolds.

Mirdef Ali Al-Qashouti, acting charge d’affaires at the Qatar Embassy in Kabul, told Lynch that Qatari officials ensured the couple were kept in “comfortable” conditions during talks.

He told Lynch the Reynolds’ release was because of “continuous efforts by my government to keep our policy in helping releasing hostages and our mediation and diplomacy”.

“Throughout their eight months in detention – during which they were largely held separately – the Qatari embassy in Kabul provided them with critical support, including access to their doctor, delivery of medication, and regular communication with their family,” a Qatari official told Reuters news agency.

Hamish Falconer, minister for the Middle East, Afghanistan and Pakistan, said in a statement: “The UK has worked intensively since their detention and has supported the family throughout.

“Qatar played an essential role in this case, for which I am hugely grateful.”

The couple have lived in Afghanistan for 18 years and run an organisation called Rebuild, which provides education and training programmes.

They have been together since the 1960s and married in the Afghan capital in 1970.

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Their son, Jonathan, told Sky News in April his parents had “never heard one accusation or one charge”.

He said the British government had offered to evacuate them when the Taliban took over, to which they replied: “Why would we leave these people in their darkest hour?”

Mr and Mrs Reynolds are now on their way home, where they will be reunited with their family.

Speaking to Sky News from Wyoming in the United States following their release, Jonathan said he was “excited” to be seeing his parents again, and joked: “I’m a little bit jealous of my dad’s beard.”

“They look really well to me,” he said, “which I’m just delighted about”.

“I am looking forward to putting my arms around them and giving them a big hug, as all of my siblings will be.”

He offered his “special thanks” to all the British and Qatari diplomats involved in his parents’ release.

He said the grounds for their detention remained a mystery as they were given no explanation for their arrest.

“They were investigated for all kinds of things but everything came up with no evidence of any wrongdoing,” he said.

“One of them, the original arrest, they said something about flying a drone – my parents don’t own a drone. It’s hard enough trying to get them to know how to use certain new technologies, let alone a drone.

“So, yeah, bizarre things, but I think they were just people of interest and then got caught up in a big, big mess of a situation, and no one knew what to do. But I’m just happy they are home.”

Asked about their desire to return to Afghanistan, he said: “It’s probably not wise to go back to a place where they are not welcome, and I would say, clearly they are not welcome there.”

“They are going to arrive back in the UK with the clothes on their backs. They have sold everything… all of their possessions,” he said, when asked what the future held for his parents.

“Knowing my mum she has probably written a few books in her mind whilst she’s been in captivity.

“We have heard great reports from schools across Afghanistan that the programmes they set up are running really, really well, so they will probably want to continue those,” he added.