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ANIMAL WELL-BEING was not seen as a high priority for the Taliban when they returned to Kabul in August 2021. A Kabul-based animal rescue charity called Nowzad, run by a former British soldier, made so much noise in the British press that Boris Johnson, the then prime minister, allowed him to take 94 stray dogs and 68 cats on one of the last flights out of the country. They were the lucky ones. Kabul’s street dog population exploded when Afghans abandoned their dogs before fleeing the country.
“At first we found a lot of rare, well-trained breeds,” says Mohammed Ismail, a veterinarian at another British animal charity, called Mayhew. When Kabul fell, Mayhew told his Afghan staff to stay home. As a British organization, it feared reprisals. He also assumed that the Taliban hated dogs, which pious Muslims consider unclean. But the Taliban were quick to ask Mayhew to get back to work.
Every day, at dawn, the association sends its veterans accompanied by dog hunters from the Taliban-controlled administration of Kabul. Armed with giant nets, most of the time they catch around sixty stray animals, which they sterilize and inoculate against rabies. After a few days of convalescence in the association’s facilities, the dogs are released onto the street. The Taliban mayor of Kabul says he is delighted with this work. His administration recently considered Mayhew’s vaccination of about 30,000 stray dogs as one of his successes.
Nowzad is also back in Kabul, where his activities include running a small animal clinic. The Taliban allowed NGO “Pursuing our mission goals,” says Nowzad founder Pen Farthing, a former Royal Marine. During his five recent visits to Kabul, he found the Taliban docile and “always polite and friendly”. He thinks the international community should stop ignoring them. “They came back to power because we put them back in power,” he suggests with a touch of cynicism.
Mayhew says he fully complies with Taliban rules, including an order banning NGOs to employ women. “It’s horrible,” says Caroline Yates of Mayhew. “But above all we are an animal welfare organization. »■