Taliban releases British couple after eight months in detention

 

 

The Taliban government on Friday announced they had released an elderly British couple held in detention in Afghanistan for almost eight months.

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‎The family of Peter Reynolds, 80, and his wife Barbara, 76, had made repeated pleas about their ailing health after their arrest in February.

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‎”Two British nationals named Peter and Barbara Reynolds, who had violated the laws of Afghanistan, were released from custody today following the judicial process,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Abdul Qahar Balkhi said on social media.

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‎He added that the government “does not view the matters of citizens from a political or transactional angle”.

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‎The couple were handed over to the UK’s special representative Richard Lindsay, Balhki said.

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‎A Qatari official, on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter, told AFP that the couple were “safely released from detention in Afghanistan following mediation led by Qatar”.

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‎”The Qataris had been engaged with the Afghan authorities for many months, working in close coordination with the British government,” he added.

The couple were married in Kabul in 1970, and have spent almost two decades living in Afghanistan running educational programmes after moving there. They also became official Afghan citizens.

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‎Taliban officials have refused to detail why the couple was arrested in February as they were returning to their home in central Bamiyan province.

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‎AFP