PUP took on the sole responsibility for the Kabul Small Animal Rescue staff members and their families that did not make it through the HKIA gates
during the withdrawal in August 2021.
We have since taken on the 58 people from Operation Magic Carpet that were left without any support in Pakistan.
We need to sort out the Operation Magic Carpet groups documentation problems asap. They need that fixed so they can exit the country. This
has been a huge undertaking for our tiny rescue, but these people are worth the effort. The KSAR group moved by us has all the required documents.
We want to stress that some staff from both orgs left their homes when they evacuated and can not go back to them because it is too dangerous or
new people have moved in. This is a group of women, religous and ethnic minorities who face active persecution in Afghanistan.
Unfortunately there is a backup with US immigration and refugee processing, so it is taking longer for processing for the former Kabul small animal
rescue group. We have a few months to go with them.
We are solely responsible for their support until cases are done.
We cannot start cases for Operation Magic Carpet group until documentation is fixed, so we have no timelines for them yet.
We are committed to continue to work on the welfare of the 230 staffers and families who asked for help. We will not abandon them. They are our
friends and rescue colleagues.
Former KSAR Staff:
We all watched in Horror as the last US plane and soldiers left Kabul at the end of August 2021 and an Animal Shelter's staff and animals who had been hoping to evacuate were left behind.
The animals from Kabul Small Animal Rescue have safely made it to Canada, but the former staff is still waiting for help. Paws Unite People cares for them and we managed to secure a GENEROUS
one-time private donation to cover the initial costs needed in order to get the group safe to a third country while they wait for their visa processing. We recieved funds raised by Puppy Rescue
Mission for them and a Support Grant from SPCA International, but all of those funds have been exhausted as there are delays in the US Visa process.
The refugees in our KSAR group that are evavuated are afraid of being deported back to Afghanistan when funds run out. They have been beaten and assaulted there, one of them had her face burned
with hot water, one suffered a severe concussion, one had his spine injured so badly from a beating he had to have corrective surgery, and there were several who barely escaped after attempts on
their life. We are continuing to work to evacuate the remainder that want to leave and are continuing to liaison with the US State Department and attorneys to document the people who still need
to leave that lost their paperwork during the suicide bombing at HKIA in August so they can exit the country. This has been a huge undertaking for our tiny rescue, but these people are worth the
effort.
We are doing everything we can to help them. We have joined Afghan Evac Coalition and have made great strides in getting them safe, in particular, we have secured relatively inexpensive housing.
Still it is a group of over 160 people, recently made a little larger still by the joyful arrival of 3 new babies, and they need substantial funds each month to survive. They need housing, food, some
legal advice (for the visa) and some medical care for those injured. We urgently need your help with that, as we cannot do this alone.
The men, women, and children evacuated by our organization are NOT safe in Afghanistan. Their efforts AND THEIR LIVES should not be forgotten.
While they sit in a different country (or in safe houses in Afghanistan) waiting for the USG to tell us where to move them next, our organization is responsible for their food, medical expenses and
housing. (AND also the flight to whatever base will be processing them) This group was moved with all the legal documentaion needed to travel to the USA, and we are just waiting for their cases to be
processed.
Women cannot work.
Hazara are persecuted.
Some worked with USG.
Not one person who we are helping was safe... ever.
Without their efforts, none of the animals that arrived in Canada would be safe.
Righting a wrong: Helping the group from Operation Magic Carpet:
A group of 92 individuals, including 58 people who are ex-staff and family members of the London-based animal welfare charity, Mayhew, were moved to Pakistan through an online effort
dubbed "Operation Magic Carpet".
13 veterinarians, business representatives and former employees of the UK Ministry of Defence and Foreign Office, together with students, 32 children, and a handful of companion
animals, were evacuated from Afghanistan to Pakistan towards the end of last year.
All 92 evacuees put their faith and trust in a group of strangers living thousands of miles away, people they had never met. Fearing for their lives, in a country on the brink of
disintegration, they packed a single small bag each, left their homes and everything that they knew behind them, and went into hiding.
A 90-year-old woman, believed to be the oldest person to escape Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover, was part of the rescued group, along with a baby girl born during the
evacuation process. Another baby girl and a baby boy were born during the last two months.
Operation Magic Carpet was the result of unique collaboration between a small group of hitherto disparate people, united by a common sense of compassion and humanity with the initial
costs of the operation being met by anonymous donors from the U.K. and America and Gibraltar businessman and head of World Trade Center (WTC) Gibraltar, Gregory Butcher.
Fourteen of the group were granted entry to France and one was granted entry to Canada where they are settling in, learning the languages and relieved to be safe. However, the almost
80 remaining members of the group, the vast majority of whom are women and children (as well as five dogs), are still in Pakistan facing an uncertain future. Many of the group have faced threats of
retribution, forced marriage and ultimately death; with some of the group including vulnerable and orphaned young women who had to flee to avoid being forced into marriages with Taliban fighters,
effectively under life-long sexual slavery.
Of the remaining group, 58 are now without sponsors.
They are all registered with UNHCR but there are some logistical issues that need resolving before they can gain access to third countries.
These issues are not insurmountable but they need money in order to be resolved.
Despite the fact that the groups known to WTC Gibraltar and their entire families (11 in total) moved to France in January, Greg has single-handedly supported the remaining group
since then, covering their accommodation, food, utilities and medical costs. Without Greg’s selfless and altruistic generosity towards a group of people that he has never met, they would not have
been able to survive in Pakistan for the past ten months. However, Greg is unable to keep financing the group and has had to neglect other charitable interests such as an animal shelter in Spain
which is probably sadly not able to meet its commitments to the animals it has rescued through the winter, due to the loss in funds. Therefore, other than some final voluntary goodwill payments
raised from WTC to the families, there is no money to support the group beyond October 15, 2022. All others involved have walked away.
Suzy, Max, Rubex, Rambo and Tommy, the five dogs in the group, who have provided such comfort and support to the people in the group, when everything familiar and certain has been
stripped away from them, are also facing having to be sent to an animal shelter or left to fend for themselves as so far no shelter has agreed to take them due to the CDC ban on importing dogs from
the Middle East.
The group have been through enough in the past year and the thought of losing their beloved dogs after everything else that they have gone through is almost too much to bear.
While we are struggling to meet the costs of our KSAR group, we recently became involved in trying to address the logistical issues facing the Operation Magic Carpet group. The
resources are there but money is needed to address the logistical issues and to continue to support them with housing, food and day-to-day costs until they can hopefully be resettled in third
countries. The OMC group was not moved with the appropriate documentaion, and that needs to be fixed.
While we have the logistical resources, funds are needed for them to be able to help any additional people. We have offered to try to help WTC raise the funds needed to keep the 58
unsponsored people safe.
Donations are needed in order to continue to support the OMC and KSAR groups and PUP can’t do it alone.
Every dollar, pound or Euro donated will go towards supporting the group in Afghanistan and helping to resolve the logistical issues. No donation is too small and any donation will be
gratefully received. Please help us to save the lives of over 200 men, women, children and 5 dogs.
“Whoever saves a life, saves the world”
We are a tiny rescue and are doing our best to make sure these people stay alive and safe.
We promised Dr Tahera and Akram, the 2 staff members who have made it to the USA, that we would make sure nobody is left behind.
Help us honor that promise.
They want to continue to help people and animals.
Together we can make that happen.
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