British couple arrested in Afghanistan to be released 'as soon as possible,' Taliban says

An elderly British couple arrested and detained in Afghanistan will be released "as soon as possible", the Taliban has reportedly said.

Peter and Barbie Reynolds, 79 and 75, were arrested on 1 February while returning to their home in the country's Bamiyan province, according to their family in England.

The couple have lived in Afghanistan for 18 years — staying after the Taliban toppled the Western-backed government in 2021 — and run Rebuild, an organisation that provides education and training programmes for businesses, government agencies and NGOs.

Interior ministry spokesman Abdul Mateen Qani said four people had been arrested: two British citizens with Afghan identity cards and passports, a Chinese-US citizen and their translator.

British media reports identified the Chinese-US citizen as Faye Hall, a friend of the couple, and said that the translator was an Afghan national working with Rebuild.

Qani told the BBC and the Daily Telegraph late on Monday that the Taliban were taking care of the couple while the group was carrying out its investigation.

"A series of considerations is being taken into account, and after evaluation, we will endeavour to release them as soon as possible," he told the BBC. The spokesman did not say why the couple had been detained. A Taliban source previously told the BBC that the arrests were because they had used a plane without informing police or security forces.

UK urged to act

Sarah Entwistle, one of the couple’s children, said her parents had initially stayed in touch with text messages following their arrest — telling their four children that they were fine — but went silent three days later.

"Our parents have always sought to honour the Taliban, so we wanted to give them the opportunity to explain their reasons for this detention," Entwistle told Times Radio. “However, after more than three weeks of silence, we can no longer wait."

"We're now urgently calling on the British consulate to do everything in their power to get us answers and to put as much pressure as they can on the Taliban for their release," added Entwistle, who lives in England.

The UK Foreign Office said on Monday that it was "supporting the family of two British nationals who are detained in Afghanistan". It did not provide any further details.

The couple married in Kabul in 1970 and have been running Rebuild since 2009. According to the organisation's website, one of its programmes involved training mothers and children in Bamiyan, which is one of the biggest cities in central Afghanistan.

Although the Taliban has severely restricted women’s education and activities, the project had apparently been approved by the local authorities, British media reported.

Western nations, including the UK and the US, closed their embassies and withdrew their diplomats as the Taliban took over Afghanistan in August 2021.

The UK Foreign Office advises against all travel to Afghanistan, and says there is a heightened risk of British nationals being detained in the country.