An elderly British couple have reportedly been arrested by the Taliban for ‘teaching good parenting skills to mothers’ in Afghanistan.
According to Mail Online, Peter, 79, and Barbie Reynolds, 75, were arrested on February 1 after they returned to their home in the Bamiyan province.
The couple, who have been running training schools in Afghanistan for the last 18 years, were text messaging their four children to tell them they were being held by the interior ministry and that they were ok.
But after three days family members said the messages suddenly stopped with daughter Sarah Entwistle saying: ‘This is really bad.’
The Reynolds’ home has been raided and their employees have been quizzed by the Taliban about whether they were engaging in religious proselytising, reported The Sunday Times.
The couple, who wed in Kabul in 1970, were urged to flee the country when the Taliban returned to power in August 2021 but decided to stay as ‘they could not leave when Afghans were in their hour of need’.
Barbie was even honoured by the Taliban to become the first woman to receive a certificate of appreciation after they were ‘impressed and inspired’ by the programmes the couple offered.
Mrs Entwistle, from Daventry, Northamptonshire, said. ‘My mother is 75 and my father almost 80 and [he] needs his heart medication after a mini-stroke.
‘They were just trying to help the country they loved. The idea they are being held because they were teaching mothers with children is outrageous.’
The Reynolds have dual citizenship and run five schools in Kabul, which includes a mothers and children training programme reportedly approved by authorities.
Mrs Entwistle and her three brothers have written an open letter to the Taliban urging for their mother and father to be released.
The worried daughter has insisted her parents have done nothing wrong and ‘were meticulous about keeping by the rules’.
