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The life of a 79-year-old British man imprisoned along with his wife by the Taliban is in serious danger, his family have warned.
Peter Reynolds and his wife, Barbie, 75, who run a training business in Afghanistan, were detained last month when they travelled to their home in Bamiyan province.
Their daughter, Sarah Entwistle, said her father’s health had “significantly deteriorated” after the couple were separated and moved to a high-security prison.
“We hear he now has a chest infection, a double eye infection and serious digestive issues due to poor nutrition,” she said.
Speaking to the Sunday Times, Entwistle said: “Without immediate access to necessary medication, his life is in serious danger.” He requires pills for his heart after he had a mini-stroke before he was detained.
Entwistle said the family had been told that Reynolds was in immense pain after being “beaten and shackled”.
In a direct plea to her parents’ captors, she added: “Our desperate appeal to the Taliban is that they release them to their home, where they have the medication he needs to survive.
“We believe this request should be viewed not merely as a plea, but as a unique opportunity to demonstrate an unforgettable act of kindness that will resonate around the world.”
The couple’s business, Rebuild, has run projects in schools in Afghanistan for 18 years and continued after the Taliban regained power in 2021. Barbie previously became the first woman to receive a certificate of appreciation from the Taliban.
The pair were arrested on 1 February with an American-Chinese friend, Faye Hall, who had rented a plane to travel with them, and a translator from Rebuild.
The reason for their detention remains unclear. Entwistle suspects it was because they were teaching mothers with children.
The previous Taliban regime, before it was toppled by the US-led invasion in 2001, had accused the couple of teaching against Islam, but this case was dropped. The family said their parents respected Taliban rule and had adapted to the imposition of strict Islamic laws.
A Rebuild employee said last month the detained group was told their flight “did not coordinate with the local government”, adding that the three foreign nationals had been imprisoned in Kabul.
Hopes were raised in late February that the couple would be released.
In a statement reported by the BBC, the Taliban official Abdul Mateen Qani said: “A series of considerations is being taken into account and, after evaluation, we will endeavour to release them as soon as possible.”
He added that the three foreign nationals had Afghan passports and national ID cards.
Qani’s statement drew a cautious welcome from Entwistle, who told the Times: “It’s the first thing we’ve heard from the Taliban, so it’s really positive, but he’s really not saying very much. We know they were investigating to see if they were teaching anything against Islam, so that was a relief to us as we knew they wouldn’t be.”
She added: “Next thing we heard, the investigation was because they’re teaching parenting skills to mothers over the age of 30, with their children. Apparently, that was now against the law, but none of the influential people in that village [Bamiyan] thought it was a problem.”
The couple, who originally met at the University of Bath, married in Kabul in 1970 after travelling there as part of an academic placement scheme. They became Afghan citizens after returning to the country 30 years later to set up Rebuild.
The couple’s family initially did not want the UK government to get involved with the case.
A Foreign Office spokesperson said: “We are supporting the family of two British nationals who are detained in Afghanistan.”
