A BURNLEY man reunited with his family after being captured while fighting for the Taliban will not face any charges in the UK, it was revealed today.

Anwar Khan, 25, of Kent Street, Stoneyholme, Burnley, flew into Manchester Airport on Sunday, April 7 after four years in a Northern Alliance jail in Afghanistan.

He has been reunited with his wife Zorah and four-year-old son Hamza who was a baby when his father last saw him.

He was questioned by the Metropolitan Police when he arrived in Britain but today they said the matter was closed.

Family friend Rafique Malik said Anwar was now resting "out of Burnley" to escape all the publicity he had received.

Mr Malik said: "He was with his family. He is having a rest somewhere now. Things are going alright.

"I went to see his family at the weekend and they said he had gone somewhere to have a bit of a rest and gone away from all the attention.

"As far as I know he is just rethinking how to live the rest of his life."

Anwar was imprisoned by the Northern Alliance while fighting for the Taliban regime in 1998.

His family had fought for his release ever since and his elder brother Azmal flew out to the country in January to make a last ditch effort to bring his sibling home.

After tracing Anwar the two crossed the border into Pakistan only for Anwar to be re-arrested and imprisoned again.

The Foreign Secretary Jack Straw and British High Commissioner in Islamabad then agreed to allow him to come home.

The family said that Anwar went to Pakistan to 'kick' a heroin habit but after meeting a family uncle it is thought he crossed the border into Afghanistan and took up arms.

On his arrival at Manchester Airport last week he was met and questioned by Metropolitan Police special branch officers for almost three hours before being allowed home.

Anwar was expected to report back to police last Thursday but today a spokesman said: "A 25-year-old man was detained at Manchester Airport under schedule seven of the Terrorism Act of 2000 which allows police to make inquiries of an individual in order to verify their status and reasons for entering the UK.

"The man was not arrested and the matter is now closed."