An older British couple was arrested by the Taliban for 'teaching good parenting skills to mothers'.
Peter, 79, and Barbie Reynolds, 75, were arrested on 1 February after they returned to their house in the province of Bamiyan in Afghanistan.
The couple, which has held training schools in Afghanistan for the past 18 years, were SMS about their four children to tell them that they were being held by the Ministry of the Interior and that they were in order.
But after three days, family members said that the messages suddenly stopped with daughter Sarah Entwistle and said, “This is really bad.”
The Reynolds House was robbed and their employees were interviewed by the Taliban about whether they are involved in religious conversion, the Sunday Times reported.
The couple, who married Kabul in 1970, was encouraged 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 honored by the Taliban to become the first woman to receive a certificate of appreciation after they were 'impressed and inspired' by the programs that the couple offered.
Mrs. Entwistle, from Daventry, Northhamptonshire, said. 'My mother is 75 and my father almost 80 and [he] Needs his heart medication after a mini stroke.
Peter, 79, and Barbie Reynolds, 75, were arrested on 1 February by the Taliban after they returned to their house in the province of Bamiyan in Afghanistan
Taliban security officials patrolled after a suicide attack outside the headquarters of the Afghan Ministry of Urban Development in Kabul, Afghanistan – 13 February 2025
“They just tried to help the country they loved. The idea that they are being held because they teach mothers with children is outrageous. '
The Reynolds have double citizenship and run five schools in Kabul, including a training program of mothers and children who are reportedly approved by the authorities.
Mrs Entwistle and her three brothers have written an open letter to the Taliban who encouraged to release their mother and father.
The worried daughter has urged her parents to do nothing wrong and 'were' meticulous about persistent the rules'.
The Reynolds have previously told their families that they 'never want to be part of ransom negotiations or are traded' and 'would rather sacrifice their lives'.
The couple met while studying at Bath University, where Barbie achieved a BSC level in sociology and psychology.
Since the return of the Taliban to power in August 2021, women have gradually erased from the public spaces, as a result of which the United Nations denounces the 'gender apartiness' that has established the administration.
The authorities of the Taliban have prohibited post-primary education for girls and women, limited employment and blocked access to parks and other public places.
In October the Taliban forbade women to hear the voices of other women in a cruel rule that led to the fear that women can no longer talk to each other.
The Minister of Afghanistan for the promotion of virtue and prevention of vice, said Khalid Hanafi at the time: 'Even when a female woman prays and another woman passes by, she should not pray loudly enough to hear.
'How can they sing if they are not even allowed to hear [each other’s] Voting during praying, let alone for something else. '
Taliban -Hunters patroling along a street in Kabul, Afghanistan on August 29, 2021
He said that “new rules are and will gradually be implemented, and God will help us with every step we take.”
Every woman who dares to break the new rules is arrested and sent to prison, the terror group said.
Women are already forbidden to speak loudly in their own house and may not be heard outside.
Women are also ordered to cover their faces 'to prevent seduction and seduce others', and are banned to speak or are unknown men who are not spouses or close relatives are present.
“If necessary for women to leave their houses, they must cover their faces and voices of men” and be accompanied by a “male guardian,” according to the rules approved by the highest leader of the Taliban.
Some local radio and television stations have also stopped broadcasting female voices.
The UN reported that only one percent of women believe that they have an influence in their communities, and that almost one in 10 women has had another who has tried to commit suicide since the Taliban took over.
Moreover, almost one in five women said that in three months they had not spoken with another woman outside their immediate family.
