{"id":3562,"date":"2025-09-19T15:28:05","date_gmt":"2025-09-19T13:28:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/swazidailynews.com\/?p=3562"},"modified":"2025-09-19T15:28:05","modified_gmt":"2025-09-19T13:28:05","slug":"elderly-british-couple-freed-after-detention-in-afghanistan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/genesisekucalenimedia.com\/edn\/3562\/future\/space-future\/elderly-british-couple-freed-after-detention-in-afghanistan\/","title":{"rendered":"Elderly British Couple Freed After Detention in Afghanistan"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>An elderly British couple detained by the Taliban earlier this year have been released and flown to Doha after months in custody.<\/p>\n<p>Peter Reynolds, 80, and his wife Barbara (\u201cBarbie\u201d), 76, were taken into custody by the Taliban\u2019s interior ministry on 1 February while travelling to their home in Bamyan province, central Afghanistan. In March, they were transferred to a maximum-security prison in Kabul, where they were held without charge.<\/p>\n<p>On Friday, following mediation led by Qatar, the couple were freed and escorted to Kabul Airport, where they departed for Doha. Speaking to Sky News correspondent Cordelia Lynch, Mr Reynolds said simply: <em data-start=\"858\" data-end=\"888\">\u201cWe are just very thankful.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer welcomed the development, thanking Qatar for its intervention:<br data-start=\"986\" data-end=\"989\" \/><em data-start=\"989\" data-end=\"1302\">\u201cI welcome the release of Peter and Barbara Reynolds from detention in Afghanistan, and I know this long-awaited news will come as a huge relief to them and their family. I want to pay tribute to the vital role played by Qatar, including His Highness Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al Thani, in securing their freedom.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Richard Lindsay, the UK\u2019s special envoy to Afghanistan, said the grounds for the couple\u2019s detention remained unclear but confirmed they were \u201cvery relieved to be going home and delighted to be reunited with their family.\u201d He added that Britain\u2019s advice against travelling to Afghanistan \u201cremains in place and will remain in place.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>[embedyt] https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=h8il2lIgfWo[\/embedyt]<\/p>\n<p>The Taliban foreign ministry later stated the pair had \u201cviolated Afghan law\u201d and were released after a court hearing.<\/p>\n<p>Despite their ordeal, Mrs Reynolds told Sky News the couple hoped to return to Afghanistan:<br data-start=\"1853\" data-end=\"1856\" \/><em data-start=\"1856\" data-end=\"1995\">\u201cWe\u2019ve been treated very well. We are looking forward to seeing our children. We are Afghan citizens, and we\u2019d like to return if we can.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>She added a final message for friends and family: <em data-start=\"2049\" data-end=\"2093\">\u201cGod is good, as they say in Afghanistan.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-3563\" src=\"https:\/\/genesisekucalenimedia.com\/edn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/th.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"474\" height=\"355\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An elderly British couple detained by the Taliban earlier this year have been released and flown to Doha&hellip;","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3564,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"csco_display_header_overlay":false,"csco_singular_sidebar":"","csco_page_header_type":"","csco_page_load_nextpost":"","csco_post_video_location":[],"csco_post_video_location_hash":"","csco_post_video_url":"","csco_post_video_bg_start_time":0,"csco_post_video_bg_end_time":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[33,32],"tags":[48,49,50,66],"class_list":["post-3562","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-culture","category-space-future","tag-feature","tag-human-interest","tag-international","tag-opinion","cs-entry","cs-video-wrap"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - 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