A British couple who spent nearly eight months in Taliban guardianship in Afghanistan say they were shuttled between 10 incarcerations and stressed they would be executed.
Peter Reynolds, 80, and his woman Barbie, 76, were released last week and arrived back in the UK on Saturday. They said they were noway told why they were arrested or why they were freed.
The couple have lived and worked in Afghanistan for decades, running education and training systems since 2009. “ We’ve a lot to reuse, ” Peter said in a statement to the BBC. “ We’re leaving behind quality people, our home, and all our effects. ”
Hamish Falconer, the UK’s Middle East minister, credited “ good, old- fashioned tactfulness ” for their release and thanked Qatar for interceding.
Both suffered health problems while in guardianship, including severe anaemia. Taliban officers claimed they entered medical care and that their rights were admired.
Peter and Barbie were arrested on 1 February after taking a chartered flight from Kabul to Bamiyan fiefdom with friend Faye Hall and their translator. Hall and the translator were latterly released.
A Taliban foreign ministry prophet said after their release that the couple had “ served their time ” but gave no explanation for their detention.
The couple were married in Afghanistan in 1970 and have a long history of working with original communities. One of their systems, which trained women and children, had been approved by original authorities despite the Taliban’s ban on girls’ education beyond age 12 and on women working.
At one point the couple were held at Pul-e-Charkhi, Afghanistan’s most notorious maximum- security captivity. They said they spent two months in basement cells with no windows before being moved over ground, where they were treated more kindly and given better food.
Peter said he was taken to court four times but noway charged. “ When I was taken to court, I had my ankles and hands cuffed together with man slayers and rapers, ” he said in an dispatch. Barbie described the hardest moment as “ seeing my 80- time-old hubby floundering to get into the reverse of a police truck with his hands and ankles chained. ”
“ The worst moment was being led down and separated from my woman after 55 times of marriage to my stylish friend, ” Peter recalled.
Since returning to Britain, the brace have gone shopping for new clothes and Peter visited a hairstylist “ to reveal the gentleman behind the wild untamed hair and beard, ” his family said. Barbie told the Sunday Times she’s pining salad and Marmite after months of “ unctuous and salty ” captivity food, while Peter said he wants baked sap.
For now, they say they wo n’t return to Afghanistan. “ We’re confident in the numerous awful Afghans we know to bring about a positive future for their country without us, ” they said.
The UK no longer has an delegacy in Afghanistan and warns against all trip there, calling it “ extremely dangerous. ” The Foreign Office says there’s a heightened threat of British citizens being detained for months or indeed times.
