Major update as British couple held by Taliban finally freed after 7 months of hell

By Alice Scarsi, World News Editor, Jon King, News Reporter

Barbie Reynolds, 76, and her husband Peter, 80, were detained by the Taliban's interior ministry (Image: www.freepeterandbarbie.com/AFP)

An elderly British couple who had been detained by the Taliban in February have finally been freed. Barbie Reynolds, 76, and her husband Peter, 80, have been safely released from detention in Afghanistan following Qatar-led mediation.

The couple were arrested as they travelled to their home in Bamyan province, Afghanistan. They were held without charge, had mainly been held separately and detained in a maximum security prison. Communications had also been cut off with family and medication denied.

Their four adult children had issued several urgent pleas to the Taliban to release their parents before it was too late, fearing they would die in custody. The Taliban rejected the family's allegations of abuse but never explained what prompted their detention.

Mr and Mrs Reynolds were released on Friday and flown to Doha, according to Sky News. A Foreign Office official told the broadcaster the couple are very relieved to be going home and delighted to be reunited with family.

The official said the UK Government was "incredibly grateful" to Qatar and today was a "great humanitarian day".

The Reynolds ran school training programmes in Afghanistan for 18 years, remaining after the Taliban re-seized power in 2021.

Their case underlined concerns in the West over the actions of the Taliban since they overthrew the country’s US-backed government in a lightning offensive in 2021.

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United Nations human rights experts warned in July that the couple’s physical and mental health was deteriorating rapidly and they were at risk of irreparable harm or even death.

Their son, Jonathan, said that same month that the situation had been "pretty frustrating" after the family made multiple appeals to the Taliban to release their loved ones.

He said the UK Government had offered to take the Reynolds out of Afghanistan after the Taliban re-seized power, but they asked why they would leave as Afghans faced their "darkest hour".

Mr and Mrs Reynolds met in the 1960s and married in Kabul in 1970.