The American children of a British couple held captive by Afghanistan's ruling Taliban regime appealed Wednesday to President Trump in a video, asking for his help in securing their release.
Britons Peter and Barbie Reynolds, both in their 70s, were detained by the Taliban on Feb. 1 this year alongside their American friend, Faye Hall, and their Afghan interpreter, as they traveled to the British couple's home in Afghanistan's central Bamiyan province, the Reynolds family told CBS News.
Faye Hall, an American citizen, was released last Saturday into the custody of Qatari officials who helped broker her release and return to the U.S., just as the Reynolds family marked eight weeks of their parents being in Taliban captivity.
Suhail Shaheen, the Taliban's ambassador in Qatar, told CBS News that Hall was released as a "goodwill gesture" and that they "want to have positive relations with (the) U.S. and other countries."
Peter and Barbie Reynolds have lived in Afghanistan for 18 years, where they run a registered organization that provides teacher training to local schools and education reform that integrates Islamic values, their family told CBS News. They have Afghan passports that allow them to travel freely in and out of the country, and their work is known and supported by local Afghan elders and police, the family said.
After the Taliban's return to power in 2021, the Reynolds were invited to present their work to senior leaders, and Barbie was awarded a Certificate of Appreciation, believed to be the first such award ever given to a woman by the Taliban, the family said.
"We are overjoyed that Faye Hall has been released after eight weeks in an Afghan prison. She endured an unimaginable ordeal. We are in close contact with her and deeply grateful she's safe," the Reynolds' children said.
But their parents continue to be held without being charged. "Each week, they are promised a court date that never materializes," the family said.
"Our father's health is rapidly deteriorating. He's run out of vital medication," the family also said. "Our mother is also weak and desperately in need of iron supplements. Their physical condition is worsening by the day."
In a video filmed by the family outside the White House on Wednesday, the Reynolds' American son, Jonathan, with his daughter Annabelle by his side, appealed to President Trump. "We are continuously told that (our parents) have done nothing wrong, they have committed no crime, and they will be released shortly. But still they remain in jail. Last week, you were somehow able to get Faye Hall out," Jonathan states in the video, addressing Mr. Trump directly.
"We have been told by the British government that they're doing everything they can to see my parents released. Yet—as a (Briton) by birth, American by choice—I'm standing here appealing to you to help get my parents out of that jail. I love this country. I've lived here for 26 years, and I'm standing here with my youngest daughter and the youngest grandchild of Peter and Barbie Reynolds. They have 13 American citizen grandkids, great grandkids and children, and we are appealing to you to do everything that you can to get them out of that jail and out of their country," Jonathan also said in the video.
White House Appeal - Peter & Barbie Reynolds by Charles Romer on YouTube
"Please get my grandparents out. I just want to see them again, please. I know you can, and I really want you to. Please," Anabelle said in the video.
"My whole family—13 American citizens—are appealing to you, Mr. Trump, as one leader that we believe can actually do this," Jonathan said at the end of the video.
Peter and Barbie have four children, 17 grandchildren and 3 great grandchildren, of whom two sons, 13 grandchildren and one great grandchild are American citizens, their daughter Susie Romer told CBS News. Their sons, including Jonathan, live in Chicago, and Susie, who is a green card holder, lives in California.
Friends detained together
Peter and Barbie Reynolds were detained by Taliban authorities along with Faye Hall in Bamiyan province, central Afghanistan on Feb. 1.
Hall, an American citizen from California and friend of the Reynolds, had traveled to Afghanistan to visit the couple and help them with their humanitarian work, according to the Reynolds family.
Just one day after Hall arrived in the country, the three traveled from Kabul to central Bamiyan province, where the Reynolds' Afghan home is located, and were arrested along with their Afghan interpreter.
After eight weeks of imprisonment, Barbie Reynolds and Faye Hall were summoned by Taliban authorities to the gate of their prison compound last Thursday, according to the Reynolds family, who have been granted permission by the Taliban to speak with their parents by phone. Both women then insisted that all four detainees should be released together, but the Taliban authorities forcibly separated Hall from Barbie Reynolds and took her away. The Reynolds family told CBS News that Hall had again pleaded for the release of the other three, but was told by Taliban authorities, "We are only dealing with you." Hall was then released to Qatari officials shortly after.
Peter and Barbie are still being held in separate wings of the same Kabul prison, in "harsh and degrading conditions", the Reynolds family said, with no consular access or legal representation. The U.S. and U.K. suspended embassy operations in Kabul when the capital fell to the Taliban in August 2021. The Taliban have repeatedly denied written requests by Peter and Barbie to see each other, the family said.
The family has told CBS News that the Taliban had given prior assurances that the case of all four detainees would be resolved as a group. The family also told CBS News that they're not aware of any coordination by both the U.K. and U.S. governments towards trying to get all three hostages out at once prior to Faye Hall's release.
A U.K. Foreign and Commonwealth Office Spokesperson said in a statement, "We are supporting the family of two British nationals who are detained in Afghanistan." A U.K. official also told CBS News, "We do not comment on specific cases. Our travel advice is clear that individuals should not travel to Afghanistan. There is a heightened risk of British nationals being detained and the Government's ability to help those in need of consular support is extremely limited".
On Hall's release, the State Department said in a statement, Monday, "We extend our sincere gratitude to the Government of Qatar for its support of American citizens in need and we thank the European Union delegation in Kabul for their assistance."
Trump's former special envoy for Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, confirmed Hall's release via a post on X on Saturday. Khalilzad accompanied Adam Boehler, whom the White House has told CBS News is a "special government employee for hostage negotiations", to meet Taliban authorities in Kabul last month. The visit was the first by U.S. officials since the 2021 Taliban takeover. American George Glezmann was released after that visit, in what Trump's former envoy for Afghanistan also described as a "goodwill" gesture by the Taliban.
President Trump intends to withdraw his nomination of Adam Boehler for the official State Department role of Special Envoy for Hostage Affairs, two sources told CBS News last month, so that Boehler can avoid divesting from his own business interests. "Adam Boehler will continue to serve President Trump as a special government employee focused on hostage negotiations," White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly told CBS News.
The Taliban have arbitrarily detained many U.S., British and other Western nationals in the past three years in what appears to be a deliberate effort to use them to secure concessions from the West.
In January, Americans Ryan Corbett and William Wallace McKenty were freed in a prisoner exchange between the U.S. and the Taliban, for Khan Mohammed, an Afghan serving a life sentence in a federal prison in California.
Kathryn Watson, Margaret Brennan and Ahmad Mukhtar contributed to this report.
Camilla Schick
Camilla Schick is a British journalist in D.C. and CBS News' Foreign Affairs Producer, covering U.S. foreign relations, the State Department and national security.