KABUL: Taliban authorities have detained two Britons, a Chinese-American and their Afghan translator, the interior ministry confirmed late Monday, after the daughter of the British couple called on London to secure their release.

`Based on certain considerations, the authorities have detained four people: two British citizens holding Afghan papers, one person with Chinese and American nationality and their translator,` Abdul Mateen Qani, spokesman for the Afghan Interior Ministry, said. `Efforts are underway to resolve this issue,` he added.

Qani spoke shortly after Sarah Entwistle, in an interview with British media, called for her government to do `everything in their power` to secure the release of her parents, Peter and Barbie Reynolds, who had been running training programmes in Afghanistan for years.British media had reported their arrest, along with a Chinese-American woman and their Afghan translator, on Feb 1 in the province of Bamiyan, a major tourist attraction west of Kabul known for its giantBuddhas-destroyed in 2001 by the Taliban.

Qani refused to confirm the identities of the detainees, or give further details on their condition or the reasons for their arrests.

`Details will be released shortly,` he said. Entwistle and her three brothers had initially chosen not to involve the UK authorities `hoping to hear directly from the Taliban about why they`d arrested our parents`, she told TimesRadio on Monday.

`Our parents have always sought to honour the Taliban, so we wanted to give them the opportunity to explain their reasons for this detention,` she said.

`However, after more than three weeks of silence, we can no longer wait.-AFP