A British couple in their 70s who run education programs in Afghanistan have lost contact with their family after being detained by the Taliban earlier this month, their children say.
The family urged the Taliban to release Peter and Barbie Reynolds. Their four adult children said the couple have lived in Afghanistan for 18 years, remaining after the Taliban toppled the Western-backed government in 2021.
The couple runs Rebuild, an organization that provides education and training programs for businesses, government agencies, educational organizations and non-governmental organizations.
Photo: EPA-EFE
The Sunday Times, which first reported the story, said one project was for mothers and children. The Taliban has severely restricted women’s education and activities.
“They have always been open about their presence and their work, diligently respecting and obeying the laws as they change,” the children said in a letter to the Taliban, shared on Sunday with The Associated Press. “They have chosen Afghanistan as their home, rather than with family in England, and they wish to spend the rest of their lives in Afghanistan.”
“We kindly ask for the release of our father and mother so they can return to their work in teaching, training, and serving Afghanistan, which you have previously supported,” they said.
The children said their parents had asked the British government not to get involved with their case. Britain’s Foreign Office declined to comment.
Rebuild said the husband and wife were taken from their home in the Nayak area of central Bamiyan Province, along with another foreigner and an Afghan.
Rebuild said that the detained couple had been living in the area for more than two years and had Afghan identity cards. It said Taliban officials had previously searched their home and taken the couple to Kabul, before returning them to Bamiyan.
“Then a delegation came from Kabul, along with Bamiyan provincial officials, and took them again to Kabul,” the organization said. “It is now around 17 days and there is still no information about them.”
No one from the Taliban government was available for comment.
DEBT BREAK: Friedrich Merz has vowed to do ‘whatever it takes’ to free up more money for defense and infrastructure at a time of growing geopolitical uncertainty Germany’s likely next leader Friedrich Merz was set yesterday to defend his unprecedented plans to massively ramp up defense and infrastructure spending in the Bundestag as lawmakers begin debating the proposals. Merz unveiled the plans last week, vowing his center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU)/Christian Social Union (CSU) bloc and the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) — in talks to form a coalition after last month’s elections — would quickly push them through before the end of the current legislature. Fraying Europe-US ties under US President Donald Trump have fueled calls for Germany, long dependent on the US security umbrella, to quickly
RARE EVENT: While some cultures have a negative view of eclipses, others see them as a chance to show how people can work together, a scientist said Stargazers across a swathe of the world marveled at a dramatic red “Blood Moon” during a rare total lunar eclipse in the early hours of yesterday morning. The celestial spectacle was visible in the Americas and Pacific and Atlantic oceans, as well as in the westernmost parts of Europe and Africa. The phenomenon happens when the sun, Earth and moon line up, causing our planet to cast a giant shadow across its satellite. But as the Earth’s shadow crept across the moon, it did not entirely blot out its white glow — instead the moon glowed a reddish color. This is because the
Romania’s electoral commission on Saturday excluded a second far-right hopeful, Diana Sosoaca, from May’s presidential election, amid rising tension in the run-up to the May rerun of the poll. Earlier this month, Romania’s Central Electoral Bureau barred Calin Georgescu, an independent who was polling at about 40 percent ahead of the rerun election. Georgescu, a fierce EU and NATO critic, shot to prominence in November last year when he unexpectedly topped a first round of presidential voting. However, Romania’s constitutional court annulled the election after claims of Russian interference and a “massive” social media promotion in his favor. On Saturday, an electoral commission statement
Chinese authorities increased pressure on CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd over its plan to sell its Panama ports stake by sharing a second newspaper commentary attacking the deal. The Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office on Saturday reposted a commentary originally published in Ta Kung Pao, saying the planned sale of the ports by the Hong Kong company had triggered deep concerns among Chinese people and questioned whether the deal was harming China and aiding evil. “Why were so many important ports transferred to ill-intentioned US forces so easily? What kind of political calculations are hidden in the so-called commercial behavior on the
RSS