Not only tens of thousands of people were brought to safety outside of Afghanistan on evacuation flights from Kabul. But also dozens of animals – but there was also a lot of criticism for the action.
London – An evacuation flight with more than 150 cats and dogs from Afghanistan arrived in the UK on Sunday, according to a media report.
As the “Daily Mail” reported, the charter plane landed at London Heathrow Airport in the morning. Nowzad, the organization behind the operation known as Operation Ark, confirmed to the BBC that the animals were able to leave Afghanistan together with founder Paul (Pen) Farthing.
The British ex-soldier Farthing had previously campaigned for the evacuation of the animals from an animal shelter he founded in the Afghan capital, Kabul, in a day-long campaign. Farthing also wanted to fly his employees and their relatives out. After initial hesitation, he received the support of the British government, which, despite the difficult circumstances, promised a time window for his sponsored charter flight and issued visas. In the end, however, he had to travel without the staff.
The case sparked heated controversy in the UK. Defense Secretary Ben Wallace had complained in interviews that the discussion had taken too long and accused Nowzad supporters of having put his staff under pressure. The Times published an audio message on Sunday allegedly threatening a Defense Department adviser to “destroy” him on social media if he did not support him in his endeavors.
In the British rescue operation from Afghanistan, which ended at the weekend, more than 15,000 people were evacuated, according to government figures. However, with up to 1,000 local workers left behind because of the shortage of time, many British were indignant about the evacuation of pets.
According to a poll by the polling institute YouGov on Friday, however, only just under half of Britons (49 percent) believe that human lives count more than animals. Almost as many (40 percent) consider the lives of humans and animals to be equally valuable. dpa
