A British couple in their 70s, Peter and Barbie Reynolds, have been detained by the Taliban in Afghanistan, where they had been running education programmes for nearly two decades. Their daughter, Sarah Entwistle, has urged the British government to intensify efforts to secure their release after more than three weeks of silence from her parents, who were last in contact on February 1.
According to Entwistle, her parents initially sent reassuring texts after their detention, but contact was lost three days later. In an interview with Times Radio, she expressed growing concern and emphasized that the family could no longer wait for answers. “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,” she said.
The British Foreign Office confirmed on Monday that it is providing support to the family but offered no further details. BBC sources reported that the couple, along with a Chinese-American colleague and a translator, were arrested in Afghanistan’s Bamiyan province. The Taliban authorities claimed they were detained for using a plane without informing local officials, but no official comment has been provided by the Taliban administration.
The couple had remained in Afghanistan after the Taliban’s 2021 takeover, continuing their educational work despite the risks. Britain advises against travel to Afghanistan due to the high potential for detention and other dangers.
This case comes amid ongoing tensions and uncertainty surrounding foreign nationals in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. The British government has yet to announce any specific plans to address the couple’s situation.
