TALL TAIL

Boris Johnson Did Indeed Intervene to Save Dogs and Cats in Scramble to Evacuate Kabul, Email Shows

The beleaguered British prime minister previously dismissed the claim as “complete nonsense.”

It was only last month, but several scandals ago for Boris Johnson. In December, the British prime minister forcefully denied reports that he intervened in the scramble to evacuate Kabul to ensure cats and dogs were prioritized for rescue, dismissing the claim as “complete nonsense.” Well, a freshly released email appears to show that was a lie. Johnson was accused of stepping in to make sure the cats and dogs of the Nowzad animal rescue charity were airlifted out of Kabul as the Taliban closed in last year—that is, before arranging the evacuation of around 1,000 Afghans who worked with the British Army during the war. An email released Wednesday shows an unnamed official from Britain’s foreign office writing: “Nowzad, run by an ex-Royal Marine, has received a lot of publicity and the PM has just authorised their staff and animals to be evacuated...” Asked about the apparent lie, the PM’s spokesperson said: “It remains the case that the PM didn’t instruct officials to take any particular course of action.”