Kabul -

The Animal Protection Foundation in the Afghan capital evacuated and transported dogs and cats on a Russian chartered plane from Kabul to Canada last Tuesday, and the operation began in conjunction with the evacuation of Afghans who had worked for two decades with US forces and European countries in the country.

Four days after the withdrawal of US forces from Kabul International Airport, an American organization transported 250 dogs and cats to the United States, in a move that angered many citizens who were waiting for their turn on the airport runway to get out of Afghanistan.

The Animal Protection Foundation in Kabul collects dogs in preparation for shipment (websites)

animal priority

The transfer of this number of animals was met with criticism and resentment, and Afghan workers accused foreign institutions of corruption and misappropriation of the aid they received to protect the animals.

The workers say that the association they were working for not only evacuated them, but also deliberately humiliates their Afghan colleagues by prioritizing animals and leaving them in poor security and living conditions in the country.

Veterinarian Karim Khan, "a pseudonym", told Al Jazeera Net, "The story of this corruption began in August 2021, when the association began collecting aid for animals and workers in dogs and cats shelters."

He added, "We expected that the association would evacuate the workers first and then the animals, but the opposite happened, and it collected about 2-3 million dollars to evacuate employees and animals, and when the time for the evacuation came, they told us we could not help you, and that this money is for animals only. Here you realize the duplicity of the West in the evacuation process." They preferred animals to humans.

Veterinarian: Western mentality prefers animals to humans (websites)

The largest evacuation in history

After Taliban militants entered the capital and President Ashraf Ghani left, the United States and European countries carried out the largest evacuation in history, with Washington and NATO member states issuing tens of thousands of special visas to Afghans who worked with them.

The evacuation process is still going on.

The transport of dogs and cats caused a great deal of uproar among Afghans, as last Tuesday a Canadian institution transported 158 dogs and 146 cats via a Russian chartered plane from Kabul to Canada.

"I was shocked when I heard the news of the transfer of dogs and cats that we were interested in in the association to Canada, and we stayed, I do not know how the Canadian government justifies this behavior by preferring animals over humans. This indicates that the mentality of the West Prefer animals over people.

Dogs on their way to the airport of the Afghan capital (websites)

Staff at the Animal Protection Foundation in Kabul say the foundation's director made promises to evacuate Afghans and the animals in one trip, set up a fundraising website to move his staff and animals to Canada, and was able to raise millions of dollars for the evacuation.

Veterinarian Ahmed Ali says to Al-Jazeera Net, "We were scheduled to be evacuated to Canada, but he changed his mind at the last moment. He spent the money building a simple shelter in Canada, and so aid was wasted and he blocked us on the communication sites so that we could not communicate with him."

300 dogs and cats in preparation for shipment to Canada and the United States (websites)

Buy cages and separate doctors

The purchase of cages to transport dogs and the employment of foreign veterinarians was a major reason for wasting the aid obtained by the Animal Protection Foundation in Kabul.

Fatima, "a pseudonym", a veterinarian, says to Al Jazeera Net, "They bought each cage for 3 thousand dollars and dismissed the Afghan vets, and British veterinarians replaced them with exorbitant salaries, in addition to the cost of their transportation and accommodation, all of this was at the expense of the Afghan employees. It was a corruption process. systematized".

The employees of the Animal Foundation in Kabul accuse the president of the Humane Society of violating human rights, and manipulating the feelings of Afghans who have worked with him for 4 years.

Foundation employee Fouad Haidari told Al Jazeera Net, "While there is no place for our colleagues to hide, they were caring for dogs and cats, and this means that humanity is in danger and they claim human rights and do not respect him. This is pure duplicity."

The Kabul Small Animal Rescue Foundation is one of three institutions for the treatment and protection of animals in the Afghan capital. It was established in 2019, and employs 35 employees with the support of an American citizen, and the association is supervised by 9 veterinarians for the treatment of pets.