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Friday, September 19, 2025
Taliban releases detained elderly British couple after Qatari mediation
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An elderly British couple detained in Afghanistan for almost eight months has been released, Taliban authorities say, after pressure built to free the pair due to fears over their health.
Taliban officials have refused to detail why Peter Reynolds, 80, and his wife Barbara, 76, were arrested in February as they were returning to their home.
“We are looking forward to returning to Afghanistan if we can. We are Afghan citizens,” says Barbara, in a red headscarf, standing next to her bearded husband, near a plane on the tarmac of Kabul airport after Qatar-facilitated negotiations for their release.
The couple were married in Kabul in 1970, and has spent almost two decades living in Afghanistan running educational programs for women and children. They also became official Afghan citizens.
Footage of Barbie Reynolds, 76, and her husband Peter, 80, has been shared following the British couple's release from an Afghan jailhttps://t.co/DUKrMWvLHa
???? Sky 501, Virgin 602, Freeview 233 and YouTube pic.twitter.com/5LdRasxZnZ
— Sky News (@SkyNews) September 19, 2025
When the Taliban returned to power in 2021, the couple remained in Afghanistan against the advice of the British embassy.
The couple were first held in a maximum security facility, “then in underground cells, without daylight, before being transferred” to the intelligence services in Kabul, according to UN experts.
It comes after Washington’s special envoy on hostages, Adam Boehler, made a rare visit on Saturday to Kabul to discuss the possibility of a prisoner exchange.
At least one US citizen, Mahmood Habibi, is held in Afghanistan.
Dozens of foreign nationals have been arrested since the Taliban returned to power in August 2021 following the withdrawal of the US military.
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”.
“The Qataris had been engaged with the Afghan authorities for many months, working in close coordination with the British government,” he added.
The Times of Israel Community.