British elderly couple released by Taliban after eight months in custody, aided by Qatar-led diplomacy

An elderly British couple returned to the United Kingdom this weekend after nearly eight months in Taliban custody, following intense diplomatic efforts led by Qatar. Peter Reynolds, 80, and Barbie Reynolds, 76, were detained near their Bamian home on Feb. 1 and held in ten prisons, including Pul-e-Charkhi in Kabul, where they were sometimes kept in a cage or a windowless basement, without ever being told why they were arrested.

The couple said they feared they would never be released—or that they could be executed. "We had begun to think that we would never be released or that we were even being held until we were executed," Mr Reynolds said. "The last few months, we have been together in solitary confinement, cut off from all awareness of what was going on in the world." His wife added they were not informed they were being freed as they were taken to their flight out on Friday. "They told us nothing. Even when we were taken to Kabul airport, we thought maybe we were just flying somewhere for medical treatment," she told The Sunday Times.

The Bath couple, who moved to Afghanistan in 2007 and founded Rebuild, which runs training courses for schools, businesses and NGOs, remained in the country after the Taliban seized power in 2021. They were detained by the interior ministry on Feb. 1 near Bamian. Mr Reynolds insisted no ransom should be paid to secure their freedom. "Ecstatic" is how their daughter, Sarah Entwistle, described the moment on Sunday: "I was beginning to think we would never see this moment."

Officials have attributed the release to sustained diplomacy, with Qatar taking a lead role in negotiating the couple's freedom. The Reynolds were among several foreign nationals and aid workers who had faced extended detention as the Taliban regime maintained tight control over access and information. Their return marks a rare instance of a Western family being released after months of captivity in Afghanistan, though the broader security situation remains fragile and uncertain for expatriates and aid workers.

The family’s release was welcomed by supporters in Bath and by groups advocating for detained foreigners, who highlighted the Reynolds' decades-long ties to Afghanistan and their ongoing work with Rebuild. While they recover back home, ministers in London and representatives of Qatar said they would continue to monitor the safety of other captives and to press for humane treatment in cases involving foreign nationals.