British founder of animal charity vows to stay in Kabul unless Afghan colleagues are airlifted to UK

Evacuation efforts are ‘masterclass in how to do everything wrong’, says ex-Marine

(PA)

A British ex-Marine who runs an animal sanctuary in Kabul has branded the government’s evacuation of the Afghan capital a “masterclass in how to do everything wrong” amid chaotic scenes at the city’s airport – and insists he will not flee the country until the UK authorities agree to relocate his staff.

Paul ‘Pen’ Farthing, founder of rescue charity Nowzad, has called on the British government to take in 25 Afghans who work for his organisation, including young female veterinarians in their 20s, who he warned were most at risk from the Taliban.

He has vowed not to leave Afghanistan until his staff are given permission to relocate to the UK. Asked what remaining in Kabul could mean for his safety, Mr Farthing replied: “The worst case scenario, we obviously know what the Taliban have done in the past. I don't think about it too much.

“At the moment, I'm just concentrating on getting the staff out of here and getting to the UK. We'll worry about the next part of this if we don't get the news we want.”

On Tuesday his wife, Kaisa Helene, was unable to flee the country after travelling to Kabul airport. He said she had been “crushed in a stampede” and forced to return home.

Mr Farthing, who served in Helmand Province in 2006, said his wife had decided not to attempt the dangerous journey for a second time on Wednesday after hearing reports of further chaos at the airport.

Speaking to The Independent from his home in Kabul, Mr Farthing said: “You've got hundreds of young girls here that work with NGOs to help them be inspirational leads in their community, you've got female teachers here, you've got women who've been abused by the Taliban who have escaped them and fled to Kabul to safety, but I don't see any of them getting on aircraft to go to England. So who's getting on these aircraft?

“This is a masterclass in how to do everything wrong. Right now, the West is an absolute living embarrassment.”

Mr Farthing warned that if the UK failed to offer his staff sanctuary, many would end up “being married off to a Taliban fighter, they'll be forced to stay at home and just become a baby-making machine”.

Boris Johnson said authorities had so far secured the safe return of 306 British citizens and 2,052 Afghans. Britain's ambassador to Kabul, Laurie Bristow, also said his team helped 700 people fly out on military flights on Tuesday, and the goal is to help 1,000 people get out each day. He said he's got “days, not weeks” to speed up the evacuation operation.

But Mr Farthing said: “Is this a safe evacuation from a country that was planned in advance? No. A lot of people have got this incredibly wrong, just like they have the decision to withdraw from Afghanistan without making any concrete agreements with the Taliban.

“The Taliban are absolutely laughing. They’ve just taken Afghanistan in literally a matter of 10 days.”

The former marine set up his charity, Nowzad, in 2007 after he came across a stray dog used for fighting by the Afghan police.

“I wasn't happy with that, so I broke up the dog fight and started looking after him. And at the end of my tour duty, I just could not bear to leave him behind. We managed to get him rescued out of Afghanistan, it was a long old epic adventure, we smuggled him across Afghanistan to Kabul, and from Kabul to Islamabad, and Islamabad to London. But he then became the catalyst for what we've achieved in the last 15 years with animal welfare.”

Asked about the fate of the animals now that the Taliban had taken control of the country, he said: “We will be in exactly the same place as we were when we first came to Afghanistan 15 years ago, when there was no animal welfare.”

The charity currently has dogs, cats, donkeys, horses, goats and a cow in its care.

It is hoped the dogs and cats can be transported to the UK, while the larger animals would be moved to another location in Kabul and looked after by the handful of staff who have decided to stay in Afghanistan.