An elderly British couple detained by the Taliban in Afghanistan are victims of a deepening internal power struggle within the Islamist regime, The Telegraph has learned.

The couple’s arrest was ordered by a commander linked to the Haqqani network, a powerful Taliban faction led by Sirajuddin Haqqani, the interior minister, in what is thought to be a political move.

Tensions are mounting between the group and top Taliban leaders in Kandahar, who are battling a rebellion over the regime’s crackdown on women’s rights.

Sources within the Taliban said that the detention of Peter Reynolds, 79, and his wife Barbie, 75, is not based on any violations of local laws or religious customs, but rather to increase international pressure on the government and its supreme leader, Haibatullah Akhundzada.

“This is part of a broader plan to sideline him [Akhundzada] and position Haqqani as the leader and to portray him as someone more capable of engaging with the West by releasing them.”