Daughter of Peter and Barbie Reynolds says government must do ‘everything in their power’ to secure their release. The family of a British couple arrested by the Taliban in Afghanistan have called on the government to do “everything in their power” to secure their release.
Peter and Barbie Reynolds, 79 and 75, who run education and training programmes in Afghanistan, were detained by the Taliban on 1 February while returning to their home in the central province of Bamiyan. Speaking to Times Radio on Monday, their daughter, Sarah Entwistle, said the family had initially chosen not to involve the UK authorities “hoping to hear directly from the Taliban about why they’d arrested our parents”.
“Our parents have always sought to honour the Taliban, so we wanted to give them the opportunity to explain their reasons for this detention. However, after more than three weeks of silence, we can no longer wait,” Entwistle said. “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.”.
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said on Monday it was “supporting the family of two British nationals who are detained in Afghanistan.”. The BBC cited a Taliban official as saying that two British nationals believed to be working for a non-governmental organisation in Bamiyan had been arrested about 20 days ago after using a plane without informing local authorities.
Entwistle said her parents had initially kept in touch via text messages after they were detained, and had assured their four children they were fine. However, contact stopped three days later. The family have had no contact with their parents for more than two weeks.
The couple married in Kabul more than 50 years ago, and run Rebuild, “an Afghan-registered research and training business” that has been operating since 2009. According to Rebuild’s website, the organisation lost almost its entire staff when the Taliban took control of the country in 2021, triggering an exodus of Afghans and internationals, but the Reynolds decided to stay.
The organisation has 30 full-time staff members, and planned to extend its operations into “four further zones” around Kabul in 2025. One of its projects involved training mothers and children in Bamiyan, one of the largest cities in central Afghanistan. There is a ban on women working and on female education beyond primary school in the country, but this project had apparently been approved by the local authority.
The couple were arrested alongside a Chinese-American friend, Faye Hall, and an interpreter from their training business. In an open letter to the Taliban, Entwistle and her three brothers said: “We do not understand the reasons behind their arrest. Our parents have consistently expressed their commitment to Afghanistan, stating that they would rather sacrifice their lives than become part of ransom negotiations or be traded.”.
