WASHINGTON – The Pentagon yesterday denied that US military personnel abandoned some of their dogs at Kabul airport during Washington’s final pullout from Afghanistan.
“To correct erroneous reports, the US military did not leave any dogs in cages at Hamid Karzai International Airport, including the reported military working dogs,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby tweeted.
Photographs posted on social media showed dogs in an Afghan animal shelter and not animals under the responsibility of the US military, Kirby added on Twitter.
To correct erroneous reports, the U.S. Military did not leave any dogs in cages at Hamid Karzai International Airport, including the reported military working dogs. Photos circulating online were animals under the care of the Kabul Small Animal Rescue, not dogs under our care.
— John Kirby (@PentagonPresSec) August 31, 2021
Citing “inside sources”, animal rights group Peta said 60 bomb-sniffing dogs and 60 other “working dogs” were left behind “suffering in the heat without adequate access to food or water”.
“Peta is appealing to President Joe Biden – and encourages everyone to do the same – to take immediate action,” the group said in a statement.
The group also noted its concern for dozens of pets belonging to evacuated American families that it said were “‘released’ onto the streets to fend for themselves, with little chance of survival”.
The US pulled its final troops out of Afghanistan on August 30, ending America’s longest war just ahead of the anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks that prompted the US-led invasion. – AFP, September 1, 2021
