Afghanistan Animal Rescue Triggers Dispute Between Charity and British Government 

LONDON - As thousands of people were evacuated from Kabul ahead of the final withdrawal of Western troops, the attempted rescue of dozens of veterinary staff and hundreds of animals from a British animal rescue charity in Afghanistan caught the attention of the media and led to a heated dispute between the charity and the British government.   

Pen Farthing, founder of the Nowzad Dogs animal sanctuary in Kabul, was a British Royal Marine for 22 years and fought the Taliban in Afghanistan’s Helmand province in 2006. Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can download this video to view it offline. He set up Nowzad — named after the first dog he rescued — in 2007, and the charity rapidly expanded, employing a local staff of 25, including three of Afghanistan’s first female veterinarians.     Describing their emotions when the Taliban seized the capital on August 15, Farthing said, “The three young women I have that work for us, the first-ever female vets in Afghanistan, they are absolutely terrified. There may be reprisals, because, you know, obviously we're a foreign organization. We've helped soldier rescues in the past, so, soldier rescue dogs.”