UK thanks Qatar for main negotiations for the discharge of the pair after their arrest in February.
Revealed On 19 Sep 2025
Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities has launched a British couple held for virtually eight months on undisclosed prices.
Peter Reynolds, 80, and his spouse Barbara, 76, had been launched from jail on Friday after a court docket listening to and handed over to the United Kingdom‘s particular consultant to the nation, Richard Lindsay. The transfer adopted negotiations led by Qatar.
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International Ministry spokesman Abdul Qahar Balkhi stated on social media that the couple had been arrested in February for “violating” Afghan regulation, however didn’t say which laws had been damaged.
UK officers had been fast to precise aid and to thank the mediating nation.
“I welcome the discharge of Peter and Barbara Reynolds from detention in Afghanistan, and I do know this long-awaited information will come as an enormous aid to them and their household,” stated Prime Minister Keir Starmer. “I wish to pay tribute to the very important function performed by Qatar.”
In a press release on Friday afternoon, the Qatari International Ministry stated the couple had arrived in Qatar’s capital, Doha, and would depart for London later. It additionally expressed its appreciation for the “fruitful cooperation” between the Afghan and UK officers.
‘Wanting ahead to return’
United Nations human rights consultants had referred to as on the Taliban in July to free the pair, having warned of the “fast deterioration” of their bodily and psychological well being, and stating that they “threat irreparable hurt and even demise”.
Photos of the couple standing collectively on Friday with the UK’s particular consultant to the nation, Richard Lindsay, at Kabul airport earlier than their departure to Doha had been broadcast on British broadcaster Sky Information.
“We’ve been handled very effectively. We’re trying ahead to seeing our kids,” stated Barbara, including: “We’re trying ahead to returning to Afghanistan if we will.”
The couple had been married in Kabul in 1970 and have spent virtually 20 years dwelling in Afghanistan’s central province of Bamiyan, working instructional programmes. Additionally they grew to become Afghan residents.
When the Taliban retook management of Afghanistan in 2021 they remained within the nation in opposition to the recommendation of British officers.
The Reynolds’ household within the UK had made repeated requires the couple’s launch, saying they had been being mistreated and held on undisclosed prices.
Hamish Falconer, the UK’s minister for the Center East, Afghanistan and Pakistan, stated in a press release that he was “relieved… their ordeal has come to an finish,” noting that the federal government in London had “labored intensively since their detention and has supported the household all through”.
The discharge comes after Washington’s particular envoy on hostages, Adam Boehler, made a uncommon go to on Saturday to Kabul to debate the potential of a prisoner change.
A minimum of one United States citizen, Mahmood Habibi, is held in Afghanistan.
Dozens of overseas nationals have been arrested because the Taliban returned to energy in August 2021 following the withdrawal of the US army.
