The Taliban jihadists were seized by SBS commandos after being tracked from the UK by MI5 and MI6 spies.
Agents think the pair were plotting to attack a UK military base or embassy.
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It is believed the Pakistan-born couple – who have British passports – were arrested at gunpoint in the city of Herat close to the border with Iran.
The renegade pair, who were captured in a hotel, are now being interrogated by UK intelligence experts at a US airbase in Kandahar near Helmand Province where roughly 9,500 British troops are serving. They could be turned over to Aghan authorities.
Officials say the couple met al-Qaeda agents and may hold a gold mine of information about the group.
Army chiefs want to find out how the pair were radicalised in Britain and who gave them contacts for Pakistan where they also travelled.
The Mirror has learnt that as many as 15 more British Taliban are at large in Afghanistan.
All the suspects are being tracked to stop them committing terror attacks in the UK. Last night a senior security source said: “British jihadists have been travelling to Afghanistan since 9/11 and most of them have been carefully watched.
“But when they got to Helmand, which is as lawless as it gets, they’d disappear and pop up again months later in Pakistan on their way out.
“The real problem arises when they are exposed to al-Qaeda which wants them to travel back to the UK, re-infiltrate society and launch terror attacks against British people.”
The Foreign Office yesterday confirmed two Britons had been detained in Afghanistan and could be held for some time.
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