BBC -A British couple detained by the Taliban in Afghanistan for seven-and-a-half months have described a “huge culture shock” after returning to the UK.
Peter, 80, and his wife Barbie Reynolds, 76, said they were never told why they were being held, nor why they were released in September.
The couple, who have run a charity programme in Afghanistan for almost two decades, told BBC Newsnight the last five months in the UK have been “totally different”.
“What we’ve been through changes us. What we’ve been through in the last, well decades, but also obviously last year, it reshapes you,” said Barbie.
“You think differently and you see things differently than we did when we used to live here before.”
While living in their long-term home in Afghanistan’s Bamiyan province, Barbie said she wore a Hijab at all times and was not allowed out in public without her husband.
“The freedom here is very striking; people are free to wear what they want, go where they want,” she said.
They were arrested on 1 February 2025 after taking a chartered flight from Kabul to Bamiyan province, along with friend Faye Hall and their translator who were later released.
The Taliban said the pair had broken Afghan laws and were released after judicial proceedings – but has never disclosed the reason for their detention.
They were released through Qatari mediation but Peter said the reason for their detention was “a complete mystery”.
The couple, who married in Kabul in 1970, previously said they were detained in 10 different prisons and at one point thought they would be executed.
“I wasn’t sure whether Barbie was alive,” Peter said.
Barbie said she shared a prison block with 240 women but there were “many more blocks with women, with 40 children”.
“It was cramped, there were about seven toilets for that number of people. They tried to fix the showers but they broke again and the drains were always overflowing,” she said.
During Ramadan, Barbie had one meal a day but after Ramadan, they were given the same amount of food but just divided at lunchtime and dinner.
“I became very malnourished and I got anaemia – Peter said I aged 20 years when I next saw him,” she said.
“Sometimes I could hardly walk and I became really quite poorly.”
Taliban officials maintained the pair received adequate medical care during their detention and that their human rights were respected.
One of the prisons Peter and Barbie were held in was Pul-e-Charkhi, a notorious maximum security prison outside Kabul that is home to some of the most dangerous criminals.
At one point they were held in basement cells with no windows for two months. For the final weeks of their detention they were moved above ground, where they say they had access to better food and were treated with kindness.
Peter said he was “shocked” when he saw Barbie after months apart.
“She was no longer a 76-year-old, she was in her 90s,” he said, adding that his wife was unable to steady herself to walk.
They previously said they wished to “hug” the people who decided to jail them and forgive them.
“I’d want them to know I’m not holding a grudge against them,” Peter said.
He added that he would love still to work with the government of Afghanistan “for the good of the people of the country”.
They sent a message to Craig and Lindsay Foreman, who were arrested and detained in Iran in January 2025.
“Hang in there, don’t lose your hope,” said Barbie.
