Diplomats held just one meeting with Taliban over British prisoners

Wife of British charity medic Kevin Cornwell, 53, taken prisoner by the Taliban in January, condemns ‘evasive’ Foreign Office officials for only holding one face-to-face meeting with the Afghanistan regime over freeing her husband

• Kelly Cornwell fears her husband will die in custody due to deteriorating health

Diplomats have held only one face-to-face meeting with the Taliban over two British men taken prisoner by the group, one of their wives has claimed.

Kelly Cornwell condemned ‘evasive’ Foreign Office officials and accused them of moving too slowly to secure the release of her husband, Kevin, 53, a UN charity medic who was arrested in Afghanistan in January.

Mr Cornwell and another unnamed British man were detained by Taliban intelligence chiefs following a raid on a hotel in Kabul. Both men have been accused of being spies, although no charges have been brought.

Mrs Cornwell said she fears her husband, who has a kidney condition and requires dialysis, will die in custody as his health has rapidly deteriorated. She told the MoS: ‘I asked from day one why nobody was making face-to-face contact and was informed it was too dangerous to send someone. Six months later, when the danger had risen, they sent someone out.’

Kelly Cornwell accused Foreign Office officials of moving too slowly to secure the release of her husband Kevin, who was arrested in Afghanistan in January

Mr Cornwell and another unnamed British man were detained by Taliban intelligence chiefs following a raid on a hotel in Kabul in January

During the diplomat’s meeting with Taliban figures in July, Mr Cornwell and the other British detainee ‘were brought out for a matter of a minute’, she added.

The couple have seven children and 17 grandchildren between them. Kelly said she wasn’t aware that Kevin had been physically tortured in captivity, but said: ‘There is a level of torture involved in depriving him of his freedom, of contact with his wife and family. What we are going through every day is a form of torture.’ 

Scott Richards, a negotiator with the Presidium Network charity assisting the family, said that Kevin’s condition had rapidly deteriorated after developing an infection in July. 

There is no British embassy in Afghanistan following the Taliban takeover two years ago. Efforts to secure the men’s release are understood to have fallen to UK diplomats based in Qatar.

Last night, a Foreign Office spokesman said: ‘We continue to raise the cases of British nationals detained in Afghanistan.’

Mrs Cornwell said she fears her husband Kevin (pictured), who has a kidney condition and requires dialysis, will die in custody as his health has rapidly deteriorated 

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