The Foreign Office acknowledged that an “error” in internal communication had left some staff believing the prime minister had made the decision. Boris Johnson later dismissed claims he approved the airlift of animals from Afghanistan as “total rhubarb”. The Nowzad charity was founded by ex-Royal Marine Paul “Pen” Farthing, who launched a high-profile campaign to get his staff and animals out of the Afghan capital Kabul as the Taliban swept through the country last year. In a damning report, the Conservative-led Foreign Affairs Committee (FAC) said the charity’s workers were told to evacuate “at the last minute” despite not meeting the Foreign Office’s priority criteria “following a mysterious intervention from elsewhere in the government”. In the end, the workers fled Afghanistan to Pakistan, not on a plane from Kabul. The charity’s animals were able to leave on a chartered flight with Mr Farthing, which MPs said absorbed “significant” resources during the chaotic period. The FAC raises questions about who in the government made the decision to prioritize the charity as the Taliban entered Kabul in August 2021. The panel said “many senior officials” believed the prime minister played a role in the decision and “we are not yet offered a plausible alternative explanation”. Read more: What happened to Penn Farthing and the animal evacuation – and did Boris Johnson step in? Addressing the FAC report, which was accused of giving “deliberately evasive and often deliberately misleading” responses to the committee’s inquiries, the Foreign Office acknowledged that “more care should have been taken” within the department about how the staff decision. “The government regrets that it has taken so long to establish what the decision-making process was in this case and how the decision was communicated internally to FCDO (Foreign Office) staff,” it said. “The government again acknowledges that the manner in which the decision to call in Nowzad personnel for evacuation was extraordinary. “He agrees that, in this particular case, more care should have been taken within the FCDO in how the decision was communicated to staff. “He again acknowledges that an error in the way the decision was communicated internally left some FCDO staff believing the Prime Minister had made the decision. “The FCDO agrees with the committee on the importance of accurate record keeping, even in a complex, fast-moving crisis such as this.” The ministry also said ministers and officials gave information to the inquiry in “good faith” and “at no stage” sought to be “deliberately” misleading. Use Chrome browser for more accessible video player 0:47 pm denies allegation of airlift of animals to Kabul The Foreign Office also acknowledged that the scope of its drive to remove those ineligible for the Afghan Relocation and Political Assistance Program (ARAP) was “poorly communicated publicly and in parliament”, and therefore its limits were “not well understood “. The FAC said in its report that “a lack of resources for the evacuation effort at a critical time likely cost hundreds of people the opportunity to leave the country and likely cost lives as a result.” However, the Foreign Office denied that the decision to temporarily withdraw its staff overnight on August 14 and 15, with the exception of the ambassador and a small number of embassy colleagues, represented “mismanagement”.
