A former British Royal Marine who launched a campaign to flee Afghanistan with nearly 200 rescued animals has flown to safety -- with the dogs and cats -- and without his charity's Afghan personnel, who were stranded in the capital city.
Paul "Pen" Farthing, who founded an animal shelter in Afghanistan, has said he has "mixed emotions" after arriving in the United Kingdom from Kabul.
Farthing landed at Heathrow Sunday on a privately chartered plane. He set up the Nowzad Animal Shelter in Kabul, rescuing animals after serving in Afghanistan in the mid-2000s.
His arrival wraps up days of controversy over his relentless efforts to secure an evacuation flight to the UK.
Farthing and his supporters had been launching a campaign to get his staff from the animal shelter and their families, including 140 dogs and 60 cats, airlifted from the war-torn country in a plane he named "Operation Ark."
Farthing was eligible for evacuation along with Afghan staff and their dependents. But he refused to leave without the animals.
As the safety of the dogs and cats was prioritized, voices have now been raised as to why the animals were evacuated first -- and not the people who are still trapped in Afghanistan.
The mission to secure the safety of the dogs and cats was affecting resources and logistics from pulling out people at risk from the country, British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace told members of parliament, The Telegraph reported.
"The hard part is getting people into and out of the Kabul airport and we have just used a lot of combat personnel to get in 200 dogs," Tom Tugendhat, MP and a former army officer who served in Afghanistan, said on LBC Radio.
"Meanwhile, my interpreter's family are likely to be killed in Afghanistan," Tugendhat said.
"What would you say if I sent an ambulance to save my dog rather than your mother?" Matt Frei, LBC radio host, asked.
A convoy ferrying Farthing and his pets was near the airport Thursday when a suicide bomber killed at least 169 Afghans and 13 U.S. military personnel.
Taliban guards manning a checkpoint would not allow the Afghan staff enter, even though they had documents that permitted them to come to the UK, Animal welfare campaigner Dominic Dyer, who has acted as representative for Farthing, said.
The staff and their families are expected to travel over a land border to flee the Taliban, along with other Afghans who were unable to secure a flight on a Royal Air Force plane.
