Ex-marine in talks with UK to get Afghan employees out of Kabul
‘Pen’ Farthing hopeful that his 25 staff plus relatives will be permitted to settle in Britain
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Your support makes all the difference.A former Royal Marine-turned charity director in Afghanistan who vowed not to leave the country until his staff were guaranteed sanctuary in the UK is now “in talks” with the Foreign Office following sustained pressure on the government to provide help.
Paul ‘Pen’ Farthing had been told by British authorities that he had a seat on a flight back to the UK, but not for the staff from his animal welfare charity Nowzad and their families.
On Saturday, Mr Farthing said he was hopeful that his 25 staff plus relatives will be permitted to leave.
The Foreign Office said it had been in contact with Mr Farthing and was “working closely with the Home Office to offer assistance”.
Late last week, Mr Farthing told the BBC that he was “disgusted” at the situation, and warned that the humanitarian crisis is now “getting out of control”.
“We can't leave the country because we can't get into the airport without putting our lives at risk.” he said. “You've all seen the scenes — it is not different today to any other time, it is just getting worse.
”I've got women and young children here. I'm not leaving without them, they're coming with me.
“Right now, they're terrified, absolutely terrified. There's no assurances that they're going to be OK if they stayed here.”
He said he was “past angry” and “just completely numb at the incompetence of this operation.”
Separately, Dominic Dyer, who has been campaigning for Mr Farthing, told PA on Friday that all 68 people in his group should have visas “within the next 24 hours” and that an aeroplane with “significant capacity” for them and the animals the charity is looking after, including dogs and cats, is being deployed in the coming days.
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