Wife of UK charity doctor held prisoner by Taliban appeals to see her husband ‘one last time’
The wife of a British charity doctor held prisoner by the Taliban makes a heartbreaking appeal to see her husband ‘one last time’ as fears mount over his health after he was arrested in January.
- Kelly Cornwell plans to travel to the Afghan capital Kabul to see her husband
- She said it may be “perhaps one last time” amid fears for her husband’s health.
youThe wife of a British charity doctor who is being held by the Taliban plans to travel to the Afghan capital Kabul to see her husband ‘perhaps for the last time’ amid growing fears for his health.
A distraught Kelly Cornwell told The Mail on Sunday that her husband Kevin, 53, is at serious risk of dying from a kidney condition that has gone untreated since he was arrested in January.
“We are at a point of anguish, where I am considering that I myself may have to travel to Kabul to try to see my husband for perhaps one last time because he may very well die in Taliban custody,” she said.
The UK Foreign Office advises against all travel to Afghanistan, which it describes as “extremely dangerous” following the Taliban takeover two years ago.
But Ms Cornwell, 48, said she was willing to make the trip to make a direct plea to her captors. She said: ‘We have known from the first day of Kevin’s detention that his health would pose a risk to his life.
Kelly Cornwell pictured with her husband Kevin before her arrest. She said Kevin was at serious risk of dying from a kidney condition that has gone untreated since he was arrested in January.
“For us to go out and make a personal appeal for Kevin’s release on humanitarian grounds meant that we had to put into words things we feared: we had to face the possibility that my husband Kevin might die in Kabul.
We haven’t had any direct contact with Kevin since our last call. No medical information has come out of Kabul that we can verify.
The couple, who have been married for 22 years, have seven children and 17 grandchildren.
She added: ‘The simple fact is that he was in Afghanistan to help ordinary Afghan people, especially children, with medical support. And in return, they lock him up for almost six months without charge.
Taliban secret police arrested Cornwell and an unnamed British hotel manager in a raid on a hotel for Western aid workers in January.
The couple have been accused of working as spies after a gun was found in Cornwell’s bedroom, despite Cornwell having a license from the Taliban regime.
The former British army medic worked in the country for Iqarus, a UK-based medical organization that works on United Nations health care missions in Afghanistan.
Also in Taliban custody is a British ‘hazard tourist’, 23-year-old Miles Routledge, who has been detained separately from the other men. The UK government has had contact with the men, but there are no formal diplomatic channels with the Islamist regime that resumed power in August 2021.
Kevin Cornwell was detained along with an anonymous British hotel manager following a raid on Afghanistan’s Darya Village hotel on January 11.
The Taliban have allowed Cornwell to make three phone calls home since his arrest. The last one was over a month ago when he said that he had kidney problems.
Scott Richards of the British non-profit organization Presidium Network, which works in conflict zones around the world, is helping the Cornwell family negotiate their release.
Recent conflicts within the Taliban leadership could complicate attempts to secure his return.
Richards said a long meeting of Taliban leaders, which took place in the southern city of Kandahar, where the top leaders are based, “has affected our ability to communicate and understand the current perception around the release of Kevin and the anonymous man.” .
A Foreign Office spokesman said: “We have spoken to the three British nationals detained in Afghanistan and are supporting the families.” We continue to raise their cases with the Taliban.
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