An elderly British couple detained in Afghanistan for almost eight months were released on Friday, the Taliban authorities said, after pressure built to free the pair due to fears over their health.
Taliban officials have refused to detail why Peter Reynolds, 80, and his wife Barbara, 76, were arrested in February as they were returning to their home.
“We’ve been treated very well. We’re looking forward to seeing our children,” said Barbara, standing next to her husband on the tarmac of Kabul airport.
“We are looking forward to returning to Afghanistan if we can. We are Afghan citizens,” she added.
The couple were married in Kabul in 1970, and have spent almost two decades living in Afghanistan, running educational programmes after moving there. They also became official Afghan citizens.
Their family had made repeated pleas about their ailing health after their arrest.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Abdul Qahar Balkhi, in a statement posted on social media, said the couple were handed over to the UK’s special representative to the country, Richard Lindsay.
“Two British nationals named Peter and Barbara Reynolds, who had violated the laws of Afghanistan, were released from custody today following the judicial process,” Balkhi added.
Images of the couple standing together with Lindsay at Kabul airport before their departure to the Qatari capital Doha were broadcast on Sky News.
“They are very relieved to be going home,” Lindsay told the broadcaster.
In late July, the independent UN human rights experts called for the Taliban government to free the pair, warning of the “rapid deterioration” of their physical and mental health, stating that they “risk irreparable harm or even death”.
Foreign ministry spokesman Balhk, in his statement, said that the government “does not view the matters of citizens from a political or transactional angle”.
A Qatari official, on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter, told AFP that the couple were “safely released from detention in Afghanistan following mediation led by Qatar”.
“The Qataris had been engaged with the Afghan authorities for many months, working in close coordination with the British government,” he added.
