Britain’s most extreme adventure tourist, ‘Lord Miles’ Routledge, has been released after being held in “custody” for eight months by the Taliban in Afghanistan and has vowed to make a return to Kabul by next month.
On Tuesday, the UK Foreign Office announced that four Britons have been set free from captivity in Afghanistan, including United Nations aid worker Kevin Cornwell and Miles Routledge, a YouTuber known to his followers as ‘Lord Miles’.
Speaking to Breitbart London upon his release, a close confidant of Routledge’s, fellow travel YouTuber Callum Darragh, said that he has spoken with Miles and that “he is in very good spirits” after having undergone one of “the most surreal detainments of any person in history.”
“The wild tales he has mentioned on Twitter about goofing off with his Taliban jailers are true. What is more insane is they are not even the most unbelievable details, but I will let him decide what to release fully,” Darragh said, adding: “We’re all glad he is back and excited to see what he does next.”
Darragh said that on the day Routledge went missing earlier this year, he and others devoted time to tracking his whereabouts. He said that they initially feared that Miles may have been taken by ISIS, but said: “When we found it was the Taliban, honestly that was the best news as they would not kill him.”
In his first post on social media since his detention by the Taliban, Routledge claimed that it was the “best adventure I’ve had yet” and that his captors treated him like a guest, saying that he even enjoyed some “picnics” with commanders and had watched the “Barbie movie with the Taliban”.
He went on to claim the “guesthouse” in which he was detained had several “Taliban guards who devoted themselves to being our servants,” with whom they “often played game… or watched movies.”
“Really outdid myself. Why did some of you think I was dead? Why did anyone worry in the slightest? No faith in me!” he boasted.
Routledge said that the experience has done nothing to diminish his wanderlust, saying: “I’m only just getting started. This may be absurd in the real world, but who wants to live there? I’m Lord Miles.”
The Foreign Office said according to the BBC that they “we welcome and appreciate” the release of the four British nationals, adding that the UK government “regrets this episode”.
“On behalf of families of the British nationals, we express their apologies to the current administration of Afghanistan for any violations of the laws of the country.”
Routledge said that he intends to return to Afghanistan, claiming to have received a “letter of immunity” so that he can travel through Taliban checkpoints without fear of detention. He also claimed that the document also serves as a weapons permit.
Commenting on his friend’s penchant for putting himself in dangerous situations, Darragh told Breitbart London: “If you worry about him, just know there is no dissuading him, as his university friends used to say: ‘All we can do is encourage him”.”
“He immediately asked me if I wanted to come back to Afghanistan with him again.”