Claims of Johnson’s Involvement in Afghan Animal Airlift ‘Absurd’: UK Minister

Undated file photo showing Seble, the 8-week-old puppy that had been rescued and was looking to be re-homed at the Nowzad Dogs charity based in Kabul, Afghanistan. Ben Birchall/PA

A British Foreign Office minister has denied the claim that Prime Minister Boris Johnson played a role in the airlift of 163 cats and dogs out of Afghanistan, calling the allegation “absurd.”

Zac Goldsmith, Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park, told the House of Lords on Wednesday that Johnson “had zero role in authorising individual evacuations from Afghanistan during Operation Pitting”—a two-week Royal Air Force Operation to evacuate British nationals and the UK’s Afghan allies out of Kabul after the Afghan capital fell under Taliban control.