British couple launched from Taliban detention, reunited with household – Nationwide

An older British couple held by the Taliban on unknown fees for eight months have been launched, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer confirmed in an announcement on Friday.

“This long-awaited information will come as an enormous reduction to them and their household,” he stated.

Peter Reynolds, 80, and his spouse, Barbie Reynolds, 76, lived in Afghanistan for 18 years and ran an training and coaching group within the nation’s central province of Bamiyan. They selected to stay within the nation after the Taliban seized again energy in 2021.

They had been taken from their residence on Feb. 1, 2025.

Qatari officers negotiated the couple’s launch earlier than they returned to the U.Okay..

“God is nice, as they are saying in Afghanistan,” Barbie Reynolds stated as she arrived at Kabul Worldwide Airport to depart the nation, the Related Press reported.

Mohammed bin Abdulaziz al-Khulaifi, Qatar’s minister of state for international affairs, thanked the UK and Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities “for the fruitful co-operation” in releasing the Reynolds, the outlet additionally wrote, including that the couple made a cease in Doha to endure medical checks earlier than flying to the U.Okay..

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Members of the family for months had been calling for the discharge of the couple, and had expressed considerations for his or her well being amid studies of abusive remedy.

Whereas the Taliban rejected the abuse allegations, they’ve by no means defined what led to the couple’s detention.

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Canadian Dave Lavery recounts his 77 days as a prisoner of the Taliban

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Talking in Doha forward of her mother and father’ arrival, the couple’s daughter, Sarah Entwistle, stated the household was grateful and relieved to be welcoming their family members again after their “incomprehensible detention by the Taliban.”

Entwistle additionally thanked the Qatari and British governments for securing her mother and father’ launch.

“This expertise has reminded us of the facility of diplomacy, empathy, and worldwide co-operation,” she advised reporters.

Abdul Qahar Balkhi, a Taliban spokesperson, thanked Qatar for its “honest efforts and mediation” relating to the Reynolds, who, he stated, had been handed over to Richard Lindsay, the U.Okay.’s particular envoy for Afghanistan, the AP reported.

He didn’t specify which legislation the couple had been alleged to have damaged.

In July, United Nations consultants who had been granted entry to the Reynolds whereas they had been in detention decided that the couple’s bodily and psychological well being had deteriorated quickly and demanded that they be instantly transferred to a hospital for remedy.

In accordance with the group of consultants, the couple had been being held in a maximum-security jail in underground cells with no entry to daylight till being transferred to an above-ground block.

Earlier than that, they had been detained and held individually.

Peter, whereas in jail, collapsed, suffered two eye infections and had been experiencing tremors in his head and down his left arm.

Along with these “grave considerations” about Peter’s well-being, his youngsters stated he’s liable to pores and skin most cancers on his face, which might require quick medical consideration.

Barbie, who has anemia, had been affected by numbness and malnutrition.

Jonathan Reynolds, the couple’s son, advised the BBC in July that each his mother and father’ lives had been in grave hazard.

“My dad was chained to murderers and criminals,” he stated.

— with recordsdata from The Related Press

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