Sir Keir Starmer has welcomed the release of an elderly British couple from months of detention in Afghanistan.
The Prime Minister paid tribute to the “vital” role played by Qatar, which mediated to secure the freedom of Barbie Reynolds, 76, and her husband Peter, 80.
The couple have been freed by the Taliban after being held for nearly eight months following their arrest as they travelled to their home in Bamyan province, central Afghanistan, in February.
Sir Keir said in a statement on Friday: “I welcome the release of Peter and Barbara Reynolds from detention in Afghanistan, and I know this long-awaited news will come as a huge relief to them and their family.
“I want to pay tribute to the vital role played by Qatar, including The Amir, His Highness Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al Thani, in securing their freedom.”
The couple are expected to now be reunited with their family after being held since February without charge and for a long period being separated and detained in a maximum security prison.
They had lived in Afghanistan for nearly two decades, and ran a training and education organisation.
Speaking from a Kabul airport runway, Mrs Reynolds told Sky News she was looking forward to “seeing our children and our family again”.
Asked if she had a message for her family or friends, she responded: “God is good, as they say in Afghanistan.”
When asked if the couple would return to Afghanistan again in the future, she said: “If we can, we are Afghan citizens.”
A Qatari official at the airport said the Reynolds’ release was because of “continuous efforts by my government to keep our policy in helping releasing hostages and our mediation and diplomacy”.
Middle East minister Hamish Falconer said: “I’m relieved to hear that Peter and Barbie Reynolds are no longer detained in Afghanistan, and their ordeal has come to an end.
“I look forward to them being reunited with their family soon.
“The UK has worked intensively since their detention and has supported the family throughout.
“The State of Qatar played an essential role in this case, for which I am hugely grateful.
“Qatar continues to play a critical role in conflict mediation in the Middle East and beyond.
“The Government’s ability to help those in need of consular support in Afghanistan is extremely limited.
“Our travel advice is clear that individuals should not travel to Afghanistan.”
In July, their son Jonathan told the PA news agency the situation had been “pretty frustrating”, after they made multiple appeals to the Taliban to release their parents.
The Taliban have never explained what prompted the couple’s detention.
A spokesman at the Taliban government’s foreign ministry, Abdul Qahar Balkhi, said the couple “violated Afghan law” and were released from prison on Friday after a court hearing, according to a statement he posted on X.
But he did not say what law the couple were alleged to have broken.
The official thanked Qatar for its “sincere efforts and mediation” regarding the couple who, he said, were handed over to Richard Lindsay, the UK’s special envoy for Afghanistan.
