This is suggested by an email from the British Foreign Office published by the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday. The action last summer during the withdrawal of Western troops from the crisis state triggered a storm of indignation. Reports that Johnson had personally campaigned for the animals to be flown out were dismissed by the prime minister as “complete nonsense”.
However, the State Department’s internal email specifically states that Johnson authorized the evacuation of staff and animals. A spokesman for the Prime Minister rejected this again on Wednesday. “It remains the case that the Prime Minister has not issued any instructions to officials on any particular course of action,” the spokesman said.
Critics fear that the evacuation of the animals was at the expense of people who feared acts of revenge by the militant Islamist Taliban. Britain had expelled 15,000 of its own nationals and local staff from the armed forces and other British agencies in days, while the Taliban seized control of the country at breakneck speed. Thousands of people with ties to Britain stayed behind in the rushed action in the country.
Former British soldier Paul (Pen) Farthing campaigned for the animals to be flown out in a day-long campaign on social media and in television interviews – with success. He left the country with the cats and dogs on a last-minute charter flight. However, the employees of the animal protection organization Nowzad in Kabul, which he founded, initially had to stay behind.