A British couple in their 70s who operated educational programs in Afghanistan have been detained by the Taliban regime, their daughter disclosed, urging the British government to secure their release. Peter Reynolds, 79, and his wife Barbie, 75, were apprehended by the Taliban's interior ministry on February 1, as per their daughter Sarah Entwistle, residing in central England.
The BBC reported on Sunday, based on Taliban sources, that two British nationals, believed to be associated with an NGO in Afghanistan's Bamiyan province, had been arrested. They were allegedly detained about 20 days ago after using an aircraft without notifying local authorities.
Following attempts to reach out for comments, both the British Foreign Office and the Taliban administration remained unresponsive. Western nations, including Britain and the United States, closed their embassies and withdrew diplomats when the Taliban took over Afghanistan in 2021.
The British couple had been engaged in educational projects in Afghan schools for 18 years, choosing to remain even after the Taliban assumed control, according to the Sunday Times report. Entwistle explained in an interview on Times Radio that initially, her parents had informed their children via text messages about their arrest, but communication was abruptly cut off three days later.
Expressing concern, Entwistle stated, "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." The couple was detained along with a Chinese-American acquaintance, Faye Hall, and a translator from their training enterprise, as indicated by Britain's PA news agency.