The sober, sensible documentary Animal Airlift: Escaping the Taliban (Channel 4) offers a clear-eyed account of what happened when the former Royal Marine Pen Farthing tried to get the staff and animals at his charity in Kabul evacuated from Afghanistan in August 2021. What began as a plea to the British public’s love of animals descended into a media storm that burned furiously hot, spitting embers that scorched whoever went near it.
Now that 12 months has passed, and everyone involved has stopped shouting names at each other on television and online, the story of Operation Ark, and the wider context that meant it sparked such a livid response, has become much clearer. This is a gripping film in which most of the key players are interviewed, though it may come as no surprise that no government officials or representatives appear. Perhaps, as on Friday when the energy price cap was raised again, nobody was available.
Farthing explains the origins of his charity Nowzad, the first ever small animal clinic in Kabul, and its efforts to reunite dogs from Afghanistan with the soldiers who befriended them. By 2014, he was being hailed as a hero for his work, but when the Taliban retook Afghanistan Nowzad’s situation became perilous. Farthing says it was dangerous not just for the animals, or himself as a former marine, but for Hamida Shabae, the female vet who worked there, or the other staff members, who might have been seen as collaborating with the west.
At this point, the story is familiar to most people who keep up with the news. Farthing and his team raised money to charter a private flight, at a time when up to half a million Afghans were also rushing towards the airport, some climbing on to aeroplane wings in desperation. Farthing pushed hard for government assistance in getting the necessary permits, on social media and via emotional, heated TV appearances. An ex-Paratrooper, Major Andrew Fox, calls these tactics “a very cynical media move on their part”, suggesting that Nowzad was relatively safe compared with many others in Kabul. Farthing, meanwhile, says he was trying to evacuate 67 members of staff and bring them to the UK, but it went unreported by the media.
This documentary convincingly tells the story of a dysfunctional evacuation process taking place during the fall of Kabul, which seemed to take western forces by surprise. The footage from that time is horrifying. Farthing describes his desperate attempts to get into the airport, to a shaky phone camera, after receiving the required permits. Two bombs are detonated by suicide bombers in the distance, killing more than 100 people. The plane, which had 230 seats, eventually took off with just Farthing and the animals on board. The Nowzad staff were evacuated two weeks later, after making their way to the border with Pakistan.
Animal Airlift offers enough balance to allow viewers to make up their own minds about what happened. Rafi Hottak, a former interpreter for the British government who explains what the Taliban do to people like him in an emotional testimony, is astonished that this is what got the attention of politicians and the media. “Dogs? For God’s sake,” he says, succinctly, suggesting that it created the illusion of a happy ending, rather than showing reality – that so many people were left to fend for themselves under the Taliban.
It is also brilliant and damning as a portrait of the current age of soundbite politics, when the prime minister can be accused by a reporter of intervening to bump Farthing’s evacuation up the list, and respond “Total rhubarb”; and the secretary of defence can refute an accusation by calling it “bollocks” on the radio; and Farthing can leave a threatening voicenote to a special adviser; and Twitter pile-ons and death threats greeted many of those who got involved. It is an ungainly spectacle, and the film makes it clear that many believe it was a terrible distraction from the horrors on the ground. Farthing, seemingly reflective, admits he “made some bad decisions”, and makes a point of talking about the “39 million people that were just abandoned”. To have this fascinating, awful story told carefully, thoroughly and calmly, as it is here, is very necessary and long overdue.
