War of words over Pen Farthing’s animal rescue mission continues

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The war of words over Pen Farthing’s animal rescue mission out of Afghanistan took its latest turn today as his allies accused the Ministry of Defence of ‘endangering lives of crew’ by releasing details of the charter flight into Kabul to Sky News on Saturday.

Dominic Dyer, an animal rights campaigner and friend of the ex-Royal Marine, claimed Ben Wallace acted ‘disgracefully’ towards Mr Farthing after the Defence Secretary denied allegations that he had ‘blocked’ a private flight to rescue 200 cats and dogs.

Mr Dyer also rebutted claims that he had insulted British forces by denouncing the MoD and expressed ‘huge respect for what they were doing in the most difficult, dangerous circumstances’. He called the withdrawal ‘appallingly handled’ by Britain and the US.

Mr Farthing, a former Royal Marine, landed in Heathrow with around 200 dogs and cats from the Nowzad shelter he founded in Afghanistan after denouncing London for refusing to help get his animals out. He then took a connecting flight to Norway to see his wife Kaisa Markhus. 

His animals are now in quarantine as per UK law. However, they could be put down if they’ve brought back disease, with Whitehall officials comparing the situation to Geronimo the alpaca – who is facing destruction after testing positive for Bovine TB – ‘on speed’.

Ministers including Mr Wallace have expressed frustration at Mr Farthing’s tactics after the Mail on Sunday revealed he threatened to ‘f**king destroy’ Peter Quentin, a special adviser to the Defence Secretary accused of ‘blocking’ the flight, unless he helped. 

Mr Wallace initially said that he would not prioritise ‘pets over people’ but later allowed a charter plane to land at Kabul to pick up Mr Farthing, and ‘facilitated’ the charity’s entry to the airport.  

But speaking to ITV’s Good Morning Britain from Oslo today, Mr Farthing dismissed claims he was helped by the Government to get into Kabul airport. ‘Nobody in the British Government facilitated my entry into that airport – I did that with the Taliban,’ he said. 

He also admitted that some seats on his animal rescue flight were empty and that five of his cats died of shock on their way to Hamid Karzai airport.

Military veterans lined up to slam Mr Farthing’s ‘pantomime’ rescue mission. Major James Bolter, a reservist in the Royal Logistic Corps, said the campaign had distracted British troops from the task of airlifting thousands of UK nationals and Afghan ex-translators fleeing the Taliban. 

However, Mr Dyer told GB News today: ‘The fact is that we had to put dogs on an airplane without people is a question that we should be asking. How did we get to that point? That plane was sat on that runway, we were in contact with Dominic Raab’s office and we were begging him, begging him to let someone get on that plane. 

‘You know the response we were getting? ”We don’t have anyone in this airport we can put on that plane, we have more air capacity than people. But over on the other wall we have hundreds, thousands of people in sewage waiting to get blown up by suicide bombers who have been there for days with their children in the most disgusting conditions.”

‘So this whole operation has been appallingly handled. What happened at the end is that Pen got access to the airport because the Taliban let him in with his dogs.’  

Foreign Office Minister James Cleverly insisted the Government had prioritised the evacuation of people over pets. He told LBC Radio: ‘We have always prioritised evacuating people over evacuating animals.

‘Mr Farthing is a British national, he had the opportunity to leave Afghanistan much earlier. His staff are enrolled on to the scheme by which Afghans that worked with the British were able to be evacuated.

‘But as I have said, we have always prioritised the evacuation of people.’

Major Bolter told The Times: ‘Was this for worthy Afghan politicians or special forces? No, sadly and infuriatingly, this was to bring one ex-Royal Marine and his rescued cats and dogs to the UK. 

‘What do I tell those people left behind when they ask me why the UK put more effort into rescuing abandoned animals than them? I have no answers. I am torn between anger and despair.’ 

Ex-paratrooper Major Andrew Fox, who served three tours in Afghanistan, added: ‘The Taliban’s agenda is not about killing animals or westerners who cared for them. It’s about killing those who worked with NATO. 

‘It’s insane they were facilitated into the airport with British citizens and interpreters left outside.’  

Appearing on ITV’s Good Morning Britain today, Mr Farthing said emotions ‘got the better’ of him during the expletive-laden message and apologised. A recording, obtained by The Times, captured Mr Farthing berating Peter Quentin, a special adviser to Mr Wallace, who he accused of ‘blocking’ efforts to arrange the evacuation flight. 

The Defence Secretary has insisted on Twitter that it is a ‘total myth’ that he blocked a flight. 

‘I’m incredibly embarrassed about my language, I do apologise to everybody who’s listened to that. I was at the lowest point I could possibly be. I understand how the world works but emotions got the better of me, so for all those who had to listen to that I do apologise for my language,’ he told GMB.

‘I should not have said it like that, but the sentiment, yes, I was just incredibly upset, angry, frustrated, it was the lowest point. I had no other option, I didn’t know what else to do. So that’s why you’ve probably heard some colourful language.’

He also told the show that there were ‘several empty seats’ on his evacuation flight with around 170 dogs and cats from the animal shelter and insisted he was the only person on the flight. 

He added: ‘I went around and they reassured me that they had enough capacity for all the people that needed to leave. I was probably like the last person to enter that airport – it was closed. Americans, the British, had obviously stopped taking people in because there had to be a point where they stopped taking people in.

‘So they assured me they had enough capacity for everybody who was inside the airport.’ 

Mr Farthing flew back to the UK last night with his menagerie of animals rescued by the Nowzad charity, as audio of a foul-mouthed rant was leaked to the media. The 57-year-old’s chartered jet from Pakistan landed in Kabul at around 6pm local time and stopped off in Muscat before making its journey to Heathrow Airport. He then took a connecting flight to Norway. 

Mr Farthing’s friend said the ex-Marine had succeeded in evacuating the 170 animals to the UK but 24 staff had to be left behind. Dominic Dyer, an animal welfare campaigner, said the former marine was forced to travel back alone after being told it was not possible to find people to fill the plane’s seats.

Mr Dyer said the shelter staff were ‘still in their homes’ with the charity in contact with them, adding that efforts would be made to try to get them out of Afghanistan. 

‘They are one of thousands of Afghans… that have a right to leave the country but actually have no safe passage out at the moment,’ he said.

The activist said the staff were denied entry to the airport in Kabul on Thursday, with the Taliban claiming they did not have the right paperwork. ‘Tragic and not the ending we wanted, but we fell victim to the chaos and the difficulties of getting through those gates,’ he added.

All of the almost 100 dogs and 70 cats on the flight were ‘healthy’, with the dogs placed in kennels, Mr Dyer said. He said armed forces personnel ‘willingly and voluntarily’ helped Mr Farthing load the animals’ crates on to the aircraft in Kabul, but extra passengers were not found.

Mr Dyer claimed an appeal was put in to the British Government ‘to see if we could fill seats with refugees within the airport. They told us there was no one they could find that could actually fill that aircraft.’      

Mr Farthing’s controversial publicity campaign to pressure the British Government to get his staff and animals out of the Afghan capital following the Taliban coup gained huge public support and helped the ex-Royal Marine to raise enough money to charter a private plane. 

But it has also led to accusations that the ex-Commando took up resources that could have been used to evacuate more people from Kabul. It was revealed yesterday that up to 150 British nationals and 1,100 Afghans who assisted UK efforts in Afghanistan will be left behind in the country. 

Ex-soldier Tom Tugendhat, the Tory chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, criticised the decision to use British troops to evacuate 180 cats and dogs while Afghan ex-UK staff are left fearing reprisals under Taliban rule. 

‘The difficulty is getting people into and out of the airport and we’ve just used a lot of troops to get in 200 dogs,’ Mr Tugendhat said. ‘Meanwhile my interpreter’s family are likely to be killed. As one interpreter asked me a few days ago, why is my five year-old worth less than your dog?’

When asked what his answer was to his interpreter’s question, Mr Tugendhat replied: ‘I didn’t have an answer, what would your answer be?’ 

Major General Nick Carter, the head of the British Army, told the BBC’s Radio 4 Today Programme that the army’s ‘priority has been to evacuate human beings,’ amid anger over the decision to evacuate animals. 

‘We obviously worry about everything that needs to be evacuated, but of course these are very difficult times, and there are very difficult judgements to be made,’ he said.  

Earlier Mr Farthing revealed how ‘depressing’ it was that he was forced to leave his Afghan staff behind. He told how his employees were stopped from crossing the Taliban line to the British area at Kabul airport.

His desperate comments were in sharp contrast to his wife, who spoke of her joy that her husband was on his way home. Kaisa Markhus, who fled Afghanistan last week for her native Norway, was eating dinner with her father in Oslo when she was told he was getting out.

It comes as the US military said it used a drone strike to kill a member of the so-called Islamic State group’s Afghanistan affiliate.

The strike came amid what the White House called indications that ISIS-K planned to strike again as the US-led evacuation from Kabul airport moves into its final days. A devastating suicide bombing claimed by the group killed as many as 170 Afghans and 13 American service members at the airport on Thursday.

Mr Farthing flew out of Afghanistan for Tashkent in Uzbekistan with 94 dogs and 79 cats on a private jet and will later return to Britain. But the day was marked with sadness as he was forced to leave behind his workforce to the Taliban.

He told the Sun: ‘It is just so depressing I had to leave them behind. Some of them came with me to the airport but they weren’t allowed to cross the line from Taliban to British control. 

‘There were lots of tears when we said goodbye. I feel so many things. I feel very sad for them [but] I’m relieved for me and I feel happy for the animals.’

The Ministry of Defence, which assisted his evacuation, confirmed he was through the airport in a tweet on Friday night.  It said: ‘Pen Farthing and his pets were assisted through the system at Kabul airport by the UK armed forces. They are currently being supported while he awaits transportation. On the direction of the Defence Secretary, clearance for their charter flight has been sponsored by the UK Government.’

Mr Farthing told how his employees at the animal sanctuary drove with him to the airport in two cattle trucks. But he revealed they had been banned from crossing into the area controlled by British soldiers by armed Taliban fighters.

Soldiers helped him unload 125kg of dry pet food, 72 tins, 270 litres of water, 12 industrial size rolls of paper towel and 20 bottles of disinfectant in a warehouse.

Despite his misery at having to leave behind his staff, Mr Farthing’s wife was chuffed he was on his way out. Kaisa was eating dinner with her father in Oslo when Pen video-called her from inside Kabul airport. ‘You should have seen the smile on my face,’ she said.

Following Thursday’s carnage, Kaisa knew her husband was planning another attempt to reach the airport – but had no idea when. She said yesterday: ‘He’s now inside the airport and we had a quick video call. The second I saw him safely inside… you can imagine.’

Her husband and his animals escaping Kabul is the dream she has clung to ever since she was flown out of the city on a near-empty flight. She learned Pen, having made it through Taliban checkpoints, had been finally allowed to board a flight with 150 rescue cats and dogs from his Nowzad charity – but he was forced to leave his staff members behind.

‘I know Pen had a very hard choice. He faced that same choice when he was inside the airport with his staff and their families on Thursday and the animals and the staff were not allowed through,’ says Kaisa. 

‘So, he went back to the compound to ensure everyone was safe and to discuss with them what to do. They decided he should go to the airport again with the dogs. 

‘He was devastated to leave his staff but knew that by removing both the dogs and himself he would remove two big risk factors.’ 

Mr Farthing’s supporter and animal rights campaigner Dominic Dyer told the Mail: ‘Pen is OK, but he is very stressed. He has no choice but to leave and bring the animals with him. We are looking forward to getting them to the UK.

‘We are very pleased we’ve got him out and are very grateful to the British Government for their help, and for the support of the Armed Forces.’ 

Kaisa was sitting at her mother’s dining room table in a top borrowed from her sister and a newly bought pair of jeans. She had fled Kabul with nothing but a toothbrush and some deodorant.

Even the book she had been reading was left behind on the table beside the double bed that, until ten days ago, she shared with Mr Farthing. That they may soon hold each other again – and can start to plan their married life together – is enough to bring her to tears.

‘I cried as I was leaving Kabul,’ she says. ‘I was one of the lucky ones. When I was in the Norwegian camp at the airport there were three kids – babies – I was playing with who’d been separated from their parents. We had to leave them behind.

‘I thought, ‘I won’t see Kabul again. I might not see Pen again’. I was crying for those babies. What the f*** is this crisis about that we’re leaving small kids behind who have no one?’

She showed a short video on her phone of the children playing at the airport. The soldiers and evacuees fussed over them.

‘Two days later, I heard Norway had decided to bring them [the babies] over here. I told Pen on the phone that the babies were in Norway now. His first reaction was ‘tell them we want to adopt one’. I want kids with Pen.’

The hope in her voice could not be further removed from the distraught woman I’d spoken to earlier this week. 

On Thursday she feared the worst when, having been advised by the British Government to go to Kabul’s airport to board a charter plane to safety, Mr Farthing – along with his 25 staff, their immediate families and 150 crated cats and dogs – was turned away at the last moment.

‘I was fearing for his life,’ Kaisa said. ‘I had this heavy feeling. When he was outside the airport I was afraid because I hadn’t heard from him.’

His group had been caught up in the hellish scenes on Thursday as Isis-K bombs killed at least 170 people, including 13 US military personnel.

Pen and his staff were tear-gassed and shot at as they fled for their lives.

‘When they got out he called me he said ‘oh, Kaisa Jan [an Afghan endearment meaning ‘dear’], hell just broke loose. I’ve had an AK gun in my chest twice now’.’ 

MoD sources last night made clear Mr Farthing and his convoy did not get preferential treatment and were not on board a military flight. 

While Mr Farthing’s supporters said he had been turned away by the Taliban on Thursday, sources said he may have gone to the wrong gate.

Mr Ben Wallace initially dismissed Operation Ark, saying it would put ‘people before pets’ in the rush to flee Kabul. He later agreed to ‘seek a slot’ for the plane carrying out the mercy mission, but insisted the convoy would not be able to jump the queue. 

There were suggestions by Mr Farthing’s supporters his change of tone was prompted by an intervention from Boris Johnson’s animal-loving wife Carrie – but this was denied by Downing Street sources.

Asked if Mr Farthing had been a diversion to the overall evacuation mission, Mr Wallace told LBC: ‘I think it has taken up too much time of my senior commanders dealing with this issue when they should be focused on dealing with the humanitarian crisis.’

But he added: ‘I hope he comes back, he was advised to come back, his wife came back last Friday, so I hope he does as well.’

The only sadness for Kaisa now is that Pen has been forced to leave his beloved staff behind. 

‘When the Taliban took over Kabul, I thought ‘if you have to put all the animals to sleep, do it’. There will be other dogs but you can’t do anything if you’re dead,’ she says.

‘But then I realised something. Pen has a mother, a brother and me. We are his three family members. Many of his staff have not gone home to their families during lockdown but stayed to help him. 

‘When there was a big kidnapping threat here a few years ago they wouldn’t go home. They stayed in the office to protect him. They are his family.’