Emails appear to show Boris Johnson authorized evacuation of pets from Afghanistan, despite repeated denials

Johnson — who is embroiled in a scandal over allegations that he attended parties during the pandemic, in violation of his government’s own lockdown rules — has denied authorizing the late August airlifting of 200 dogs and cats from Nowzad, a shelter in Afghanistan run by a former British Royal Marine.

But accusations that Johnson did have a role in authorizing the flight have continued to dog him. In December, a senior British opposition lawmaker released a letter sent by a top Johnson aide in late August confirming authorization for the animal evacuation.

In the latest correspondence to surface, an unnamed Foreign Office official in an email dated Aug. 25 wrote that the staff of another animal charity — whose identity was redacted — should be considered for evacuation as “the PM has just authorised their [Nowzad] staff and animals to be evacuated.”

A second Foreign Office email that day made a similar request, writing that given “the Prime Minister’s Nowzad decision, the Foreign Secretary might consider the [details redacted] vets and their dependents should be included.”

The emails were released as part of an investigation by a British parliamentary committee of the government’s handling of its Afghanistan withdrawal. The correspondence was provided by Raphael Marshall, a former Foreign Office official turned whistleblower, who has criticized the August evacuation as “arbitrary and dysfunctional.”

In late August, as the U.S. deadline for withdrawal neared, Paul “Pen” Farthing, Nowzad’s operator, launched a high-profile social media campaign for the evacuation of his charity’s staff and animals. At the time, tens of thousands of Afghans were amassing daily around Kabul’s international airport in a desperate search for flights out of the country.

British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace criticized Farthing’s campaign, saying it had “taken up too much time of my senior commanders” as humanitarian crises surged in Afghanistan. But Farthing and his supporters continued to lobby Johnson and his close associates.

Farthing eventually received clearance, and on Aug. 29 a private jet landed in London carrying him and his animals. The charity’s Afghan staff later found a way to flee the Taliban.