An elderly British couple Detained Taliban authorities said in Afghanistan, it was released for nearly eight months on Friday, which was released by concerns about their health.
Taliban officials declined to elaborate on why 80-year-old Peter Reynolds and his 76-year-old wife Barbara were arrested when they returned home in February.
Barbara near a plane at Tarmac, Kabul Airport, Barbara said: “We were treated well. We look forward to seeing our children.”
She added: “We look forward to returning to Afghanistan if we can. We are Afghan citizens.”
The couple married in Kabul in 1970 and lived in Afghanistan for nearly two decades, carrying out educational programs for women and children. They also became official citizens of Afghanistan.
When the Taliban returned to power in 2021, the couple stayed in Afghanistan under the advice of the British Embassy.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Abdul Qahar Balkhi said in a statement posted on social media that the couple was handed over to UK Special Representative Y Richard Lindsay.
Barki added: “Two British nationals Peter and Barbara Reynolds, who violated Afghan law, were released today after the judicial process.”
Image of the couple departing for Doha, the capital of Katari, in Lindsay, Kabul Airport. Sky News.
Lindsay told the broadcaster: “They feel relieved to go home.”
According to UN experts, the couple was the first hero in the largest security facilities and then in an underground cell without sunlight, before being transferred to intelligence services in Kabul.
In late July, independent UN human rights experts called on the Taliban government to release the pair, warning them of “rapid rapidly deteriorating” in physical and mental health, and pointed out that they “risk the possibility of irreparable harm or even death.”
Their family repeatedly begged for their health after being arrested.
Hamish Falconer, the British Middle East, Afghan and Pakistan Minister, said in a statement that he was “relieved…their organisation is over”.
He added that it was a travel proposal against British citizens’ visit to Afghanistan, warning the government that its capacity to provide consular assistance is “extremely limited”.
Russia is the only country that formally recognizes the Taliban government, which imposes strict Islamic laws and the skeletons accused of human rights violations.
At the end of the NATO-led war against Taliban militants, most people evacuated most of the embassies before reopening in the capital.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Barki said in a statement that the government “has no problem of citizens from a political or transactional perspective”, adding: “Afghans, no matter where they are, should also receive consular services.”
This is after Washington’s hostage envoy Adam Boehler visited Kabul on Saturday, discussing the possibility of prisoner exchange.
At least one American citizen, Mahmood Habibi, is an Afghan hero.
Dozens of foreign nationals have been arrested since the Taliban withdrawn in August 2021.
Due to the sensitivity of the matter, Qatari officials’ anonymous conditions told AFP The couple “safely released Afghanistan and were detained after mediation led by Qatar.”
He added: “The Qataris have been engaged to the Afghan authorities for several months and are in close coordination with the British government.”
