Taliban release British couple held in Afghanistan for months on undisclosed charges

The case of Peter and Barbie Reynolds, aged 80 and 75, underlined the concerns of the West over the actions of the Taliban since they overthrew the country’s US-backed government in a 2021 lightning offensive. The Reynolds had lived in Afghanistan for 18 years and run an education and training organization in the country’s central province of Bamiyan, choosing to remain in the country after the Taliban seized power.

Qatar, an 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. The couple left Afghanistan on Friday, a diplomat said. The diplomat spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive negotiations in the case.

“God is good, as they say in Afghanistan,” Barbie Reynolds said after she arrived at Kabul International Airport to fly out of the country.