The Taliban releases a British couple after an 8 -month captivity in Afghanistan

An elderly British couple was released by the Taliban this week after eight months in captivity.

Barbie Reynolds, 76, and her husband Peter Reynolds, 80, arrived in Qatar Friday after months of negotiations between Qatar, the Taliban and Great Britain.
The couple lived in Afghanistan for 18 years, where they headed a charity of education.

Despite the event, Barbie Reynolds said they would return to Afghanistan if they could. They are both Afghan citizens.

“God is good, as they say in Afghanistan,” she added to Kabul airport.

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Barbie Reynolds, who was released from Taliban detention in Afghanistan, is greeted by his daughter Sarah Entwistle in Qatar on Friday. (Reuters / Ibraheem Abu Mustafa)

The couple, who had been placed in police custody in February, was met by relatives, including their daughter, when they arrived in Doha, in Qatar on Friday.

Their daughter, Sarah Entwistle, was clearly emotional and told journalists in Qatar: “Thank you for giving us our family.”

She added that their family would be “forever grateful to the Qatari and British governments to stand with us during this difficult period”.

“This experience reminded us of the power of diplomacy, empathy and international cooperation,” she said.

The couple’s son Jonathan Reynolds told Sky News in the United States that their health would have started to deteriorate if they had been detained longer, despite Qatar by ensuring that they had access to their doctor and medication during their captivity.

United Nations health experts also warned that the couple’s captivity could harm or even kill them.

A Qatari official welcomed the Libéré British couple, Barbie and Peter Reynolds, while they get off the plane when they arrived in Doha, Qatar on Friday. (AP photo / najib jubain)

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Their family had accused the Taliban of having mistreated the couple and urged the government to explain why they had been detained.

Mohammed Bin Abdulaziz al-Khulifi, Minister of State for Qatar, said he was grateful “for fruitful cooperation” between the United Kingdom and the Taliban to release the couple.

The Taliban said that the couple had broken the Afghan laws without going into details.

The British couple Peter and Barbie Reynolds, who were released from the detention of the Taliban in Afghanistan, rest after landing an airplane in Doha, in Qatar. (Reuters / Ibraheem Abu Mustafa)

“We are very grateful that at least, today, it is a very big humanitarian day, that they are gathered with their family,” said Richard Lindsay, British special envoy in Afghanistan, adding that it was “obviously up to the (Afghan) authorities here to determine why they were arrested”.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer added: “I want to pay tribute to the vital role played by Qatar, including the emir, his Highness Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani, to ensure their freedom.”

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The United States withdrew from Afghanistan in 2021, leaving the Taliban to return to power.