Pen Farthing ‘so happy’ as his staff finally escape from Kabul

Pen Farthing ‘so happy’ as his staff finally escape from Kabul

Pen Farthing ‘so happy’ as his staff finally escape from Kabul Credit: Twitter

Pen Farthing ‘so happy’ as his staff finally escape from Kabul and the reach of the Taliban.

Pen Farthing’s staff have finally managed to escape from Afghanistan, and have made it to safety in Pakistan.  According to reports the staff were given approval to enter the country after Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab fought to allow refugees to be evacuated.

Pen took to Twitter to comment on the fantastic news and said: “You DID it…. #OperationArk was a complete success!

“The @nowzad staff are now safely in Islamabad and in the care of the British High Commission.

“I am so bloody happy right now.”

Speaking to the Telegraph Raab said: “Following my visit to Pakistan and Qatar, alongside our wider regional diplomacy, we’ve got the cooperation in place to help Britons and their immediate family safely out of Afghanistan.

“The conditions are still extremely challenging, but we’re getting our people home, direct from Kabul and via neighbouring countries, and I am also relieved that we’ve secured safe passage for Nowzad’s Afghan staff.”

Pen had felt extremely guilty after he managed to make it out of Afghanistan without his staff. Pen said: “There was no joy just guilt. Guilt I couldn’t get my staff out.

“Guilt that for whatever reason I couldn’t persuade the powers-that-be to give me that paperwork a few days earlier. Guilt that I left them behind.”

He added: “It was the staff who made the decision for me to make a second attempt on my own.

“They said, ‘Don’t stay. You’ve got the take the dogs out. The Taliban will just shoot them’.

“I gave them three months’ wages — that’s put away securely – and a couple of hundred dollars extra.

“I said, ‘Put this in your pocket. Do not spend it. I want it back when I see you in England. That’s your emergency money’.

“Then I went round and hugged every single one of them, including the girls. Everybody was so emotional.”


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Alex
Written by

Alex Glenn

Originally from the UK, Alex is based in Almeria and is a web reporter for The Euro Weekly News covering international and Spanish national news. Got a news story you want to share? Then get in touch at editorial@euroweeklynews.com.

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