One small way to help Afghanistan

[TimeIhadaNameChange]

Copied from a FB post

Tonight not tomorrow tonight we desperately need the help of each and everyone.

Practical action please can everyone tweet Boris Johnson and your own mp and post on their facebook pages and instragrams with #Nowzad animal shelter Afghanistan, save its staff from certain death.

For those who don’t know Nowzad set up the first ever animal shelter in Afghanistan its has dogs, cats and even donkeys. It was set up by former royal marine Pen Farthing. It trains young women and has trained 500 young vets since it started. They will be seen as British collaborators and face certain death and for the women worse, if the 25 staff and their families are not got to the safety of the UK. Please act now as they Nowzad did for the Afghan people and our troops. Tomorrow is too late it has to tonight.

yet his problems immediately pop up here on a more general Afghanistan thread.

If you'd read the thread's OP, you'd have spotted that this thread was about Nowzad from the start!

@Kendodd,a dog rescue group locally has been hand wringing about innocent fur babies. Its abhorrent to me

Well they have been extremely useful in his publicity campaign. Without those animals those people would have no chance to get out. PF used the animals as the staff would never have attracted the public interest the animals would. No you could argue that if he had just kept his head down and not attracted attention the staff and their families might have been safe staying in Afghanistan but that's a different argument.

you could argue that if he had just kept his head down and not attracted attention the staff and their families might have been safe staying in Afghanistan but that's a different argument.

His staff, working for an NGO, would almost certainly have been safer than many Afghans who had associations with HMG or HM Forces….

Yes, maybe. But not as safe as if they had managed to escape the country, especially the females.

Well option number whatever might be he sits it out until the 31st when supposedly the airport reverts to civilian control and then tries again under the new administration with his chartered aircraft…that might be a safer bet than trying to get overland to the border

Yes, hopefully.

Looks like (flight tracker type sources) an exotically registered civilian 727 freighter has arrived Kabul…

I’m suggesting it has any direct bearing/relevance to some of the discussion upthread but it might be a sign that some civilian operators are prepared go into/out of the airport and if that continues then there might be still a slim chance of getting out by air once the military pull out…

If you can watch his interview with the BBC last night about the journey to the airport , being turned away, the chaos of the airport and then the attack . He looked completely broken that he couldn't rescue his staff and their families. I feel so sad for all those who died and Afghanistan's future.
He is a really brave man, an ex soldier who fought the Taliban leading a convoy of people through Taliban checkpoints. I really hope they can all get out somehow.

@notimagain but he is an ex marine and they rescue service dogs for soldiers, they are already associated with US and UK forces.

https://twitter.com/defencehqpress/status/1431297919399993347?s=21

There's an update - I posted this on the other thread too; good news for him but I don't know what it means for his staff

The BBC are also reporting that he has got through with the animals. Given that he said that he wouldn't leave without his staff, I am praying that they are all through.

bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-58360419

There's an update - I posted this on the other thread too; good news for him but I don't know what it means for his staff

Yes, is looking good for him and the animals, no mention of the staff though .

But yeah, he was just using the animals as an excuse as a PP said

In his interview yesterday Pen said his staff had told it was time for him to go and asked him to take as many animals with him as he could, so maybe that's what's happening. Hoping there are no further setbacks, they're warning another attack is imminent though, keeping everything crossed for him.

Given that he said that he wouldn't leave without his staff

See my post above - he said they told him to go and take as any animals as he could. Poor bastard will no doubt will be slated for that now too

Looks like (flight tracker type sources) an exotically registered civilian 727 freighter has arrived Kabul…

It's reported that his private plane has or is being allowed to land. Maybe that's it?

@Shanghaisprize

Looks like (flight tracker type sources) an exotically registered civilian 727 freighter has arrived Kabul…

It's reported that his private plane has or is being allowed to land. Maybe that's it?

Doesn’t look like it, I’ve checked back and that particular aircraft (which appeared to be a cargo only airframe anyway, no room for many if any passengers) did a quickish turn around in Kabul and went back up to Tajikistan early PM.

Doesn’t look like it, I’ve checked back and that particular aircraft (which appeared to be a cargo only airframe anyway, no room for many if any passengers) did a quickish turn around in Kabul and went back up to Tajikistan early PM

Oh Ok, sorry, I've been a bit too busy to follow any flight trackers. Hopefully though they will be on one soon. Fingers crossed:

www.thesun.co.uk/news/15986544/pen-farthing-dogs-board-evacuation-jet-army-kabul-airport/

@Shanghaisprize

All the press releases I’ve seen this evening refer to his charter flight but FWIW there are still military transport aircraft heading up to Kabul (there’s an RAF A400M enroute at the moment). If he’s really got as far as getting onto the airport then hopefully he’s now odds on to get out on something.

Oh OK, thank you. I really do hope so. I just wish they could get everyone out

Just checked BBC teletex news. Pen and the animals have been helped through airport security and are awaiting transportation. No mention of the staff though. Glad they are getting the animals out but it's awful if the staff have been left behind😥

Saw this

Lets hope that determination, decency and bravery prevail🙏

dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9934313/

"Exclusive" interview with his wife: Taken approx 150 animals. No staff but will do everything he can to get them out.

There is also KSAR run by a US woman still trying to get out with more dogs snd cats - including ones they took in from the Mayhew. They are airside but their cargo plane won’t make it in time so they are trying to get cargo space. I am worried sick for them too.

It's so tragic the staff don't seem to be with him. Where are they?
As for animals in the cargo hold, actually, I WOULD put people in the hold, I'd put them anywhere reasonably survivable on the plane just to get as many people out as possible. I'm guessing it's the processing and background checks that are taking all the time though. Animals don't need any of that, you can just stick them in the hold.
I was even thinking bin the background checks and just take the children, if I had a young child in that desperate situation I would be doing my best to try to throw them onto a plane out, even if that meant I never saw them again (I know this couldn't be done) .

It’s a desperate situation. Bittersweet result for Nowzad. KSA have been inside the airport for days, must be so traumatic.
As I understand it, the Taliban aren’t letting any Afghans into the airport even if they have permission by the country they are flying too, or passports from those countries. Pen Farthing did eventually manage to get his staff into the airport after waiting outside fir 10 hours but they were turned away as the US had changed the paperwork policy 2 hours before Nowzad team got in. They therefore had incorrect paperwork & weren’t allowed through. Imagine, getting so close to safety then being turned away. Heartbreaking.