A British couple who spent almost two decades running education programs in Afghanistan were detained by the Taliban earlier this month, their children said in interviews with a number of British news outlets.
The couple, Peter Reynolds and Barbie Reynolds, were arrested on Feb. 1 when returning to their home in the country’s Bamiyan province, according to accounts first given to The Sunday Times of London. The pair, who are in their 70s, have long run a program that offers education and training in Afghanistan.
After the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan in 2021 and the withdrawal of Western troops from the country, Mr. Reynolds and Ms. Reynolds decided to stay despite the potential risk, according to one of their four children.
“They were just trying to help the country they loved,” Sarah Entwistle, the couple’s eldest daughter, told The Sunday Times.
When the Taliban came to power, it imposed an Islamic republic government and rolled back rights for women and other groups, including restricting access to education for women after the sixth grade. Women are also banned from most workplaces, and public spaces like parks, gyms and salons under Taliban law.
Ms. Entwistle told the BBC that she and her siblings were able to message their parents for a few days after their arrest. Her parents told them they were being held by the interior ministry but were fine, she said. But she added that she has not heard from them in over two weeks and said she feared for their well-being because of their age and because her father is currently taking medication, after recently suffering from a stroke.
