Elderly British couple held for months by Taliban reunited with daughter
An elderly British couple who have been freed after being detained by the Taliban earlier this year have been reunited with their daughter.
Barbie Reynolds, 76, and her husband Peter, 80, were detained by the Taliban’s interior ministry on 1 February as they travelled to their home in Bamyan province, central Afghanistan.
In March, they were moved to a maximum security prison in Kabul where they had been held without charge.
In the final stages of negotiations they were transferred to Kabul’s central prison.
They were safely released from detention on Friday and flown to Doha following mediation led by Qatar.
As they touched down in Doha, Sky correspondent Sally Lockwood said she saw the “joy” on Mrs Reynolds’ face as her daughter Sarah hugged her on the tarmac.
She told Lockwood it was “wonderful” to have arrived in Qatar.
Peter Reynolds, who was released from Taliban detention in Afghanistan, hugging his daughter Sarah. Pic: Ruters
Peter and Barbie Reynolds walk after disembarking from a plane, in Doha, Qatar. Pic: Reuters
Earlier, Sky correspondent Cordelia Lynch was at Kabul Airport as the freed couple arrived and departed.
Mr Reynolds told her: “We are just very thankful.”
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Detained British couple speak to Sky News
His wife added: “We’ve been treated very well. We’re looking forward to seeing our children.
“We are looking forward to returning to Afghanistan if we can. We are Afghan citizens.”
Asked by Lynch if they had a message for family and friends, Mrs Reynolds replied: “My message is God is good, as they say in Afghanistan.”
Peter and Barbie Reynolds after their release
Qatari and British diplomats with Barbie and Peter Reynolds on the flight to Doha
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer welcomed the news in a statement thanking Qatar.
“I 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,” he said.
“I want to pay tribute to the vital role played by Qatar, including The Amir, His Highness Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al Thani, in securing their freedom.”
Peter Reynolds was visited by Qatari diplomats last month
Richard Lindsay, the UK’s special envoy to Afghanistan, told Lynch it remained “unclear” on what grounds the couple had been detained.
He said they were “very relieved to be going home and delighted to be reunited with their family”.
Asked about the state of their health, he said: “I am not a doctor, but they are very happy.”
He added the British government’s travel advice to the country was clear. “We advise British nationals not to travel to Afghanistan. That remains the case and will remain the case,” he said.
Abdul Qahar Balkhi, a spokesperson at the Taliban government’s foreign ministry, said in a statement posted on X that the couple “violated Afghan law” and were released from prison after a court hearing.
He did not say what law the couple were alleged to have broken.
Pic: Sarah Entwistle
Pic: Reynolds family
Qatar, the energy-rich nation on the Arabian Peninsula that mediated talks between the US and the Taliban before the American withdrawal, helped in releasing the Reynolds.
Mirdef Ali Al-Qashouti, acting charge d’affaires at the Qatar Embassy in Kabul, told Lynch that Qatari officials ensured the couple were kept in “comfortable” conditions during talks.
He told Lynch the Reynolds’ release was because of “continuous efforts by my government to keep our policy in helping releasing hostages and our mediation and diplomacy”.
“Throughout their eight months in detention – during which they were largely held separately – the Qatari embassy in Kabul provided them with critical support, including access to their doctor, delivery of medication, and regular communication with their family,” a Qatari official told Reuters news agency.
Hamish Falconer, minister for the Middle East, Afghanistan and Pakistan, said in a statement: “The UK has worked intensively since their detention and has supported the family throughout.
“Qatar played an essential role in this case, for which I am hugely grateful.”
The couple have lived in Afghanistan for 18 years and run an organisation called Rebuild, which provides education and training programmes.
They have been together since the 1960s and married in the Afghan capital in 1970.
Read more from Sky News:
Afghans relocated to UK ‘exaggerating’ Taliban threat
Pic: Reynolds family
Pic: Reynolds family
Their son, Jonathan, told Sky News in April his parents had “never heard one accusation or one charge”.
He said the British government had offered to evacuate them when the Taliban took over, to which they replied: “Why would we leave these people in their darkest hour?”
Mr and Mrs Reynolds are now on their way home, where they will be reunited with their family.
Speaking to Sky News from Wyoming in the United States following their release, Jonathan said he was “excited” to be seeing his parents again, and joked: “I’m a little bit jealous of my dad’s beard.”
“They look really well to me,” he said, “which I’m just delighted about”.
“I am looking forward to putting my arms around them and giving them a big hug, as all of my siblings will be.”
He offered his “special thanks” to all the British and Qatari diplomats involved in his parents’ release.
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‘I’m just so excited to see my parents’
He said the grounds for their detention remained a mystery as they were given no explanation for their arrest.
“They were investigated for all kinds of things but everything came up with no evidence of any wrongdoing,” he said.
“One of them, the original arrest, they said something about flying a drone – my parents don’t own a drone. It’s hard enough trying to get them to know how to use certain new technologies, let alone a drone.
“So, yeah, bizarre things, but I think they were just people of interest and then got caught up in a big, big mess of a situation, and no one knew what to do. But I’m just happy they are home.”
Asked about their desire to return to Afghanistan, he said: “It’s probably not wise to go back to a place where they are not welcome, and I would say, clearly they are not welcome there.”
“They are going to arrive back in the UK with the clothes on their backs. They have sold everything… all of their possessions,” he said, when asked what the future held for his parents.
“Knowing my mum she has probably written a few books in her mind whilst she’s been in captivity.
“We have heard great reports from schools across Afghanistan that the programmes they set up are running really, really well, so they will probably want to continue those,” he added.
World
‘Better late than never’: Palestinian minister says UK recognition of state would be ‘courageous step’
Britain will be taking “a courageous step at a very difficult time” by officially recognising a Palestinian state, according to the authority’s foreign minister, who told Sky News she believes the announcement – expected in the coming days – will inspire more nations to follow suit.
The Palestinian Authority’s foreign minister, Varsen Aghabekian, told me Britain’s move was “better late than never”, and said “Britain, with its weight, can influence other countries to come forward and recognise, because that is the right thing to do”.
But she also said she is “very angry” with the White House over its “unwavering support” for Israel, and said that Israel’s refusal to pass on tax revenue was pushing Palestinian civil society to the brink of “collapse”.
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Could recognition of Palestine change the West Bank?
Aghabekian was speaking as Britain, along with France, Canada and Australia, prepares to recognise the State of Palestine officially at the United Nations.
She told me: “Britain has been supporting the existence and the flourishing of Israel for some time, but I think today Britain is looking at the matter objectively, in terms of the right of people, in terms of complying with international law, and in terms of the future of this area for both the Israelis and Palestinians.”
She rejected the idea that recognising Palestine was a reward for Hamas terrorism, saying that “non-recognition” would also be a “reward to the extremists” and said that “if we wait until Israel decides it wants to go into negotiations with the Palestinians, then it won’t happen”.
Aghabekian told me she expected Gaza to be returned to the Palestinians, but I put it to her that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was being empowered by the diplomatic support he receives from America, and in particular, US President Donald Trump.
So is she angry with the White House? “Very angry, because I expect the White House and the United States of America to align with international law, with human rights, with having no double standards.
“This unwavering support for Israel, this blind support, is not only harming the Palestinians but also Israeli society.”
Read more:
What does recognising a Palestinian state mean?
Gaza could be ‘real estate bonanza’, Israeli minister says
Varsen Aghabekian speaks to Sky’s Adam Parsons
The state of Palestine is already recognised by three-quarters of the United Nations’ members. It comprises two separate territories – the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip. Together, they are officially known as the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
The West Bank has been subject to Israeli military occupation since 1967, while Gaza has been attacked by Israel since the Hamas attacks of 7 October 2023, when nearly 1,200 Israelis were killed and around 250 people were taken hostage.
Since then, more than 65,000 people have been killed in Gaza as Israel has sought to destroy Hamas and recover its hostages. There are 48 hostages still in Gaza, with 20 believed to be alive.
She confirmed to me that Mahmoud Abbas, leader of the Palestinian Authority, which governs the West Bank, “has given guarantees in letters to various leaders around the globe that said Hamas will not be part of the governance of the Gaza Strip” and insisted there was “probably a worldwide consensus” on the topic.
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How has UK responded to Israel-Gaza conflict?
But she also insisted it was “not reasonable” to talk of completely erasing Hamas: “Hamas is an ideology, not a building that you bring down. Hamas is in people’s minds; in their heads.
“Those who support Hamas need to see a future, need to see something that is moving on the political level, need to see that there might be a state in which their children and their grandchildren might prosper.
“What people see today, whether they are Hamas supporters or not, they see darkness and they see destruction all over. They see violation of rights. They are helpless and hopeless. People need to see things are moving forward, and once that happens, there will be a shift in the mood, and they will look for a better future.”
But just as the Palestinians prepare to welcome recognition, Aghabekian said the West Bank was facing financial collapse as Israel continues to withhold hundreds of millions of dollars of tax revenue that, under a 30-year-old agreement, it collects on the Palestinian Authority’s behalf.
Israel has retained a proportion of the money since the start of the war in Gaza, but, encouraged by finance minister Bezalel Smotrich, it has recently withheld a much higher amount.
“People have not been paid, civil servants are only receiving small parts of their salaries. We can’t buy medical supplies, equipment, you name it,” said Aghabekian.
“How can a government run a country under such conditions? So yes, we are very worried.”
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