British Couple Freed from Taliban Custody Returns to the UK

Tue Sep 23 2025 09:08:32 GMT+0300 (Eastern European Summer Time)

After nearly eight months of detention in Afghanistan, Peter and Barbie Reynolds are reunited with their family and express a desire to continue their work in the country they love.

Peter and Barbie Reynolds, a British couple detained by the Taliban for eight months, have arrived back in the UK following their release. The couple, who lived in Afghanistan for nearly twenty years, were reunited with their family and remain committed to their humanitarian work in the country. Their release came after intense negotiations facilitated by Qatar, during which their health deteriorated amid concerns for their well-being.

A British couple detained by the Taliban in Afghanistan for nearly eight months have arrived back in the UK after being released.

Peter Reynolds, 80, and his wife Barbie, 76, who lived in Afghanistan for nearly two decades, landed at Heathrow Airport on a flight from Doha.

They were reunited with their daughter in Qatar on Friday. Their son Jonathan Reynolds told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that he was 'ecstatic and massively grateful' to those who were involved in securing their release.

The Taliban, who detained the couple on 1 February, said the pair had broken Afghan laws and were released after judicial proceedings - but the Islamist group has never disclosed a reason for their detention.

Peter and Barbie Reynolds married in Kabul in 1970 and spent the past 18 years running a charitable training programme that had been approved by local Taliban officials when the armed group reclaimed power in 2021.

Emotional scenes unfolded on Friday as the couple's daughter, Sarah Entwistle, met her parents as they stepped off the plane in Doha.

'We are looking forward to returning to Afghanistan if we can. We are Afghan citizens,' Barbie told Agence France-Presse at Kabul airport after Qatar-brokered negotiations for their release.

Their son Jonathan echoed those hopes, saying 'their desire would be to carry on living there and to do the work they were doing'.

The couple's commitment to Afghanistan was evident as they chose to remain in Bamiyan province after the Taliban took control, even when many Westerners had left.

The release followed months of public lobbying by their family, highlighting the dire conditions the couple faced during detention, which included health concerns such as convulsions and malnutrition.

UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer commended Qatar's role in the negotiations, underscoring the couple's ordeal and their ongoing commitment to humanitarian efforts within Afghanistan.

The UK government has maintained that it does not recognize the Taliban and advises against all travel to Afghanistan.