Animal rescuer “threatens” Defense Ministry aide to “prevent” Kabul evacuation | UK news

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A former Royal Marine who founded an animal shelter in Kabul has left a lewd letter to a government aide as he sought to put his staff and pets on a flight out of Afghanistan, according to reports.

The Times said it had obtained a leaked audio recording of Paul “Ben” Farthing berating Peter Quentin, a special adviser to the Secretary of Defense, Ben Wallace, whom he accused of “obstructing” efforts to arrange a flight.

Farthing’s campaign to get workers and animals out of the Nawzad shelter from Afghanistan has sparked controversy in recent days, after receiving a great deal of public support.

Despite granting visas to his 24 employees and their families, Farthing refused to leave without his pets and aimed to get 200 dogs and cats out of the country.

The Ministry of Defense announced on Friday that the former Marine and his animals are at Kabul airport and that the UK government has sponsored a permit for their charter flight.

In the taped message, which was reportedly sent on Monday, Farthing threatened to “destroy” Quentin on social media if he did not help arrange the evacuation.

He said, “I just found out you’re stopping me from taking this flight out of Afghanistan for my staff and the animals. So here’s the bargain buddy. Either you get the fucking ISAF number and get me permission to get to that damn airport, or tomorrow morning I’m going to turn on you and the whole damn country, and everybody else.” Another invested in that bailout, he’s going I know it’s you, you, blocking this damned move. All right?”

He continued, “I’m getting my staff out of here and I’m getting a lot of other people out of here on this trip, and then the dogs and cats go in the cargo hold. Nobody can sit in the cargo hold, only the animals.”

Farthing asked for papers saying his crew was “approved,” otherwise he would “spend the rest of my time destroying you on social media and every other fucking platform I can find.”

He said he served for 22 years in the Royal Marines and that he “didn’t take these shocks from people like you stopping me”.

Farthing insisted he was “taking people from this country and others on a privately funded plane”.

His “Operation Astronomy” campaign was a huge success on social media, but Wallace complained that it distracted those focused on evacuating the most vulnerable.

Wallace previously said that Department of Defense employees were subjected to abuse by Farthing supporters.

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