Western Morning News (Saturday)
Charity boss: We must negotiate with Taliban
AFORMER Royal Marine who runs a Tiverton-based animal welfare charity and is trapped in Afghanistan said Britain and America have “no choice” but to negotiate with the Taliban if they want to prevent a humanitarian disaster.
Paul Farthing, known as “Pen”, has been battling to get all of his Nowzad charity’s 25 staff and their families out of the country as the Taliban complete their takeover.
He is also faced with the prospect of having to put down all of the 140 dogs in his care, and potentially the 60 cats when the final evacuation flights have left.
Mr Farthing told the PA news agency he has had no communication from the Foreign Office or Ministry of Defence since the Afghan government collapsed.
He said his wife had made it onto an evacuation flight, but that it was ‘scandalous’ that there were empty seats on the plane and people were being “left behind”.
He said that he saw no path out of the “hell on earth” brewing at the airport other than bargaining with the Taliban and opening up flows of aid to the country.
“There is no choice, is there? The Taliban are in charge and I think the sooner Joe Biden and Boris Johnson and the rest of the western countries admit that, then maybe, just maybe we have a chance at supporting this country and moving forward,” he said. He added that he “absolutely does not trust” the Taliban, but has listened to their promises about safeguarding some rights for women and believes his charity could have a future in Afghanistan.
“I want to get out of here along with my staff and animals to a safe place but then I will watch and see what happens,” Mr Farthing said.
“If in six months’ or a year’s time they haven’t reverted back to their old ways, then I will come back.”
He added: “But I don’t want to be here in that middle process to find out that they were lying and they have gone straight back to how they used to be.”
The Taliban regard dogs as unclean. Mr Farthing believes the fact his charity rescues dogs and employs women could make him and his staff targets.
His status as a former marine could also be a heightened risk.
“They have said that anyone who served in the Afghan military will be forgiven so I am hoping that will extend to me and the simple fact that
after my service in the marines I actually came back to Afghanistan to help the Afghan people,” he said.
“There’s not a lot I can do about it now because I’m here.”
Mr Farthing added: “We have totally, totally given the world a masterclass in how to screw a country up – we should be absolutely ashamed, without a doubt, and hang our heads in shame over what we have done to this country,” he said, arguing there is “no choice but to start negotiating with the Taliban”.