Heartbroken Pen Farthing forced to leave his staff behind in Kabul as he escapes Taliban terror with 180 cats and dogs

A TEARFUL Pen Farthing has been forced to leave his staff behind in chaotic Kabul while finally escaping the Taliban terror with 180 rescued cats and dogs.

Armed militants banned the ex-Commando's Afghan workers from boarding a private rescue flight to Britain.

Pen Farthing, 57, was on Friday night finally admitted in to Kabul airport with his 94 dogs and 79 cats for a stressful evacuation.

However, The Sun understands he hasn't yet left Afghanistan after the flight faced delays.

And Pen was forced to leave his Afghan staff – who had reared dozens of the rescued animals by hand.

The distraught man told The Sun: “It is just so depressing I had to leave them behind.

“Some of them came with me to the airport but they weren’t allowed to cross the line from Taliban to British control.

“There were lots of tears when we said goodbye.

“I feel so many things. I feel very sad for them [but] I’m relieved for me and I feel happy for the animals.”

He is due to fly to Tashkent and then on to the UK.

The Ministry of Defence tweeted: "Pen Farthing and his pets were assisted through the system at Kabul airport by the UK armed forces.

"They are currently being supported while he awaits transportation.

"On the direction of the Defence Secretary, clearance for their charter flight has been sponsored by the UK Government."

Some of Pen's staff drove with him to the airport, in a convoy of two cattle trucks.

It is just so depressing I had to leave the Afghan staff behind.

Pen Farthing

But they were then banned from crossing a line into the military controlled area.

Pen said: "It was surreal to see British and Taliban side-by-side.

"It took about half an hour for the Taliban to release and we drove to the British side.

“The driver had to get out at the crossing point and a British para took over the driving.

“The soldiers have been really helpful.

"They have put me in a warehouse and they have been really helpful loading and unloading the crates.”

He packed 125kg of dry pet food, 72 tins, 270 litres of water, 12 industrial size rolls of paper towel and 20 bottles of disinfectant for mucking out the crates during the private rescue flight to Britain.

'GONE THROUGH HELL'

His evacuation - announced by the MoD Friday evening - has been hailed by concerned Brits who have been following his multiple escape efforts on social media.

One relieved woman said it was "the news we have all been waiting for".

Pen had spent days battling to evacuate his staff and almost 200 rescue animals, after being forced to turn away from an evacuation flight yesterday.

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said officials would seek a runway slot for the plane chartered by Pen to evacuate him, his staff and their animals if they went to Kabul Airport.

But, Pen, 69 Afghan adults and kids, and the animals were 300 metres inside the airport perimeter when the Taliban told the group it couldn't board a jet.

He said on Thursday: "We had gone through hell to get there... it took 36 hours to achieve that."

I am going to try again.

Pen Farthing

After they were turned back, an ISIS-K suicide bombers targeted civilians and US Marines outside the airport, killing at least 110 people.

However, he vowed to The Sun this morning: "I am going to try again."

Paul Farthing, known as Pen, founded the Nowzad shelter in 2007 to rescue animals in Kabul, Afghanistan.

His wife, Kaisa Markhus, 30, who is from Norway, was evacuated out of Afghanistan on an almost empty plane and finally arrived home on August 19.

She and a pregnant American friend, who manages the Nowzad animal sanctuary set up by her husband, had to push their way through a sea of men, women and children to get to an access gate.