An elderly British couple, Peter and Barbie Reynolds, have been detained by Taliban authorities in Afghanistan, prompting their daughter, Sarah Entwistle, to call on UK diplomats to do “everything in their power” to secure their release. The Reynolds, in their seventies, have spent the past 18 years running school training programmes in Afghanistan.
Initially, Sarah Entwistle and her three brothers chose not to involve British authorities, hoping to receive a direct explanation from the Taliban about their parents’ arrest. “Our parents have always sought to honour the Taliban, so we wanted to give them the opportunity to explain their reasons for this detention,” she told TimesRadio on Monday.
However, after more than three weeks of silence, the family is now urgently appealing to the British consulate. “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 added.
Both the Taliban administration and the British Foreign Office have declined to comment on the arrest. The Reynolds, who married in Kabul in 1970, chose to remain in Afghanistan even after the Taliban takeover in 2021 when the British embassy withdrew its staff. Their arrest on February 1 is reportedly linked to the teaching of parenting skills to mothers over 30, as revealed by The Sunday Times.
Sarah recalled, “My mother is 75 and my father is almost 80, and he needs his heart medication after a mini-stroke.” She argued that their parents were simply trying to help a country they loved, and that detaining them for teaching mothers about parenting is utterly outrageous.
The couple was reportedly arrested as they returned to their home in the central Bamiyan province. In an open letter to the Taliban authorities, Entwistle and her brothers pleaded for their parents’ release, stating, “We do not understand the reasons behind their arrest. Our parents have consistently expressed their commitment to Afghanistan.”
Taliban leaders, who regained power in 2021 after ousting the US-backed government, have since enforced a strict interpretation of Islamic law. This has led to broad restrictions on women and girls—measures the United Nations has denounced as “gender apartheid.”
AFP
