The Taliban released on Friday a British couple held in Afghanistan for more than seven months on undisclosed charges, an official said, part of a wider effort to get their government recognised internationally years after taking power.

The case of Peter and Barbie Reynolds, aged 80 and 75, underlined the concerns of the West over the actions of the Taliban since they overthrew the country's US-backed government in a 2021 lightning offensive. The Reynolds had lived in Afghanistan for 18 years and run an education and training organisation in the country's central province of Bamiyan, choosing to remain in the country after the Taliban seized power.