Pen Farthing forced to ABANDON cats and dogs in Afghanistan ‘after Biden changed rules’ – World News

Former Royal Marine Pen Farthing, who founded the Nowzad animal shelter in Kabul, Afghanistan, had been attempting to get 200 cats and dogs plus members of his staff on an evacuation flight out of the country

A desperate rush to get rescue animals and shelter staff out of Afghanistan has failed, the charity’s boss has said.

Pen Farthing, who founded the Nowzad animal shelter in Kabul, has been engaged in a high profile attempt to get his animals onboard an RAF evacuation flight

Yesterday the former marine made a dash for the airport in Kabul with dozens of cats and dogs, as well as Nowzad staff.

The group narrowly avoided the accidental fire of a Taliban fighter and a terrifying suicide blast which killed more than 100 people, Mr Farthing said.

After the near misses the Brit has been forced to give up the evacuation attempt due to issues with his paper work, he has said in an interview with the BBC

He claimed a decision by US President Joe Biden to change the rules on who is allowed into the airfield had blocked his passage.

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“The whole team & dogs/cats were safely 300m inside the airport perimeter,” Mr Farthing tweeted.

“We were turned away as Joe Biden had changed paperwork rules just 2 hours earlier. Went through hell to get there & we were turned away into the chaos of those devastating explosions.”

The Taliban had not accepted his paperwork and apparent approval from the British government to board a flight due to orders to only accept people who had a ‘physical passport with a visa in it’, Mr Farthing claimed.

“There’s nothing I can do. The staff are telling me it’s time for me to go. They don’t think a foreigner will be welcome here,” he told the BBC.

“Staff have asked me to take as many dogs and cats as I can. But now I can’t get them past the Taliban check points.”

He added: “My mission to get them out of Afghanistan has just ended because Joe Biden stopped it.”

It is unclear what Mr Farthing, his staff and the 200 animals he was trying to get out of Afghanistan will do now.

Earlier the Essex man spoke about a near miss his group suffered when a Taliban fighter unloaded a gun near them.

Mr Farthing said: “We’re fine but everything is chaos here at the moment.

“All of a sudden we heard gunshots and our vehicle was targeted, had our driver not turned around he would have been shot in the head by a man with an AK-47.

“We’ve been in the airport, and back out of the airport; the whole thing’s a mess.

“There’s not much more I can say at the moment, I need to make sure the animals and everyone is safe.”

Yesterday Defence Secretary Ben Wallace hit out at criticism from supporters of the former Royal Marine, who has a large online following.

They claimed the minister had blocked a flight which would have taken the animals, which he strenuously denied.

He said: “Let’s get some facts out there: One. No one, at any stage has blocked a flight.

“This is a total myth and is being peddled around as if that is why the pet evacuation hasn’t taken place. Two. I never said I would not facilitate. I said no one would get to queue jump.

“Three. The issue, as those desperate people waiting outside the gates know too well, has always been getting processed through the entrances. It can take over 24 hours. There is no point turning up with a plane until the passengers / pets are airside.

“Four. As people were processed ARAP (Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy), LOTR (Leave outside the Immigration Rules) etc they were called forward. Once processed and on the airfield they are marshalled on to a plane. As I have said we will facilitate at all stages but the priority will be people not pets.”

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has also denied claims that his wife Carrie had pushed for the animal evacuation to be prioritised.