Taliban releases British couple held in Afghanistan after 7 months

The Talibanon Friday released a British couple held in Afghanistan for more than seven months on undisclosed charges, probably part of a wider effort to get its government recognized internationally years after taking power.

- By Jon GAMBRELL AND R1AzaT BuTT

The case of Peter and Barbie Reynolds, aged 80 and 76, underlined the concerns of the West over the actions of the Taliban since it overthrew the country’s U.S.-backed government in a 2021 lightning offensive.

The Reynoldses lived in Afghanistan for 18 years and ran an education and training organization in the country’s central province of Bamiyan, choosing to remainin the country after the Taliban seized power.

Qatar mediated the pair’s release

Qatar, an energy-rich nation on the Arabian Peninsula that mediated talks between the U.S. and the Taliban before the American withdrawal, helped in releasing the Reynoldses. The couple left Afghanistan on Friday.

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

Mohammed bin Abdul-aziz al-Khulaifi, Qatar's minister of state at the Foreign Ministry, thanked Britain and Afghanistan's government “for the fruitful cooperation” in freeing the Reynolds couple.