Pen Farthing: ‘I have been left to fend for myself in Kabul’

A vet charity owner who vowed to stay in Kabul until his staff and animals can escape to the UK says he has seen his plans cancelled by the Government.

Nowzad founder Paul “Pen” Farthing has taken to social media to announce that the UK Government has now blocked his plans to extradite the charity’s staff and animals from the country.

Yesterday, Mr Farthing had confirmed he had been granted permission and visas for all of his staff and animals, but he has now announced Operation Ark has been halted at the last minute by defence minister Ben Wallace.

Interviews

In interviews on ITV’s Good Morning Britain (GMB) today (24 August), Mr Wallace said the Government was not prepared to prioritise animals.

Taking to Twitter, Mr Farthing said: “I have been left to fend for myself in Kabul. Cut off from my MoD [Ministry of Defence] support line by the special advisor to Ben Wallace. 22-year marine left behind lines. Neither my staff nor animals will now get out. Cheers.”

Cut off

Appearing on GMB, Mr Farthing added: “Today we still do not have anything from the MoD – in fact they cut me off.

“I did have an emergency line that I could call if I was in trouble or needed to report something that’s going on, but that’s been cut so I’ve been literally left now on my own in enemy-held territory. I just can’t get my head around that.

“We’ve got a privately funded plane that can take 250 passengers out – 69 of them would be me and the staff, but we’ve got an empty cargo hold. I don’t understand the problems here – I’m not asking the MoD to give me a plane, I just need to have a call sign.”

Efforts

Speaking to Vet Times this morning, Dominic Dyer, who has helped organise efforts from the UK, said he thought Mr Wallace was directly undermining the Government’s prior commitment to evacuating the group.

Mr Dyer said: “I think he has acted disgracefully and dishonourably, and he’s going against public opinion. I think he should resign, and his position is disgraced.”

When questioned by Nick Ferrari on LBC this morning on Mr Farthing’s claims he had been “cut off by the MoD” and left to fend for himself, Mr Wallace replied “That’s bollocks, Nick!”, and said Mr Farthing had been contacted and offered a flight out. Mr Wallace added: “I strongly advise him to come to the airport and take a route out.”

Elsewhere, Mr Wallace today insisted he would “prioritise people over pets”.