On Friday, the Taliban government said that they had freed an elderly British couple who had been kept in detention in Afghanistan for almost eight months.
The couple, Peter Reynolds, 80 years old, and his wife Barbara, 76 years old, had been arrested back in February. Since then, their family had repeatedly asked for their release, especially because both of them were old and not in good health.
According to a statement made by Abdul Qahar Balkhi, the spokesman for Afghanistan’s Foreign Ministry, the couple had broken Afghan laws, but after a judicial process, they were finally released. He explained that the Taliban government does not treat cases involving foreign citizens as political matters or as bargaining tools.
After their release, the couple was handed over to Richard Lindsay, who serves as the United Kingdom’s special representative in Afghanistan.
A Qatari official, speaking privately because of the sensitivity of the issue, told the news agency AFP that Qatar had played an important role in helping the couple gain their freedom. He said that the couple was safely released after long months of mediation led by Qatar. The official added that Qatari authorities had been working closely with both Afghan officials and the British government during this time.
Peter and Barbara Reynolds have a long history with Afghanistan. They were married in Kabul in 1970 and later spent nearly twenty years living in the country. During that time, they ran educational programs for the local people and even became official Afghan citizens.
However, it is still unclear why the Taliban arrested them earlier this year. Officials have not given any details about the reasons behind their detention, which began as the couple was returning to their home in Bamiyan province, located in central Afghanistan.
