Were US service dogs left behind in Afghanistan?
THE last plane carrying Americans from Afghanistan departed on August 30, officially putting the final nail in the US’ longest war.
The last C-17 took off at 3.29pm ET, hours before President Joe Biden‘s August 31 deadline to withdraw service members from .
Were US service dogs left behind in Afghanistan?
However, as , an animal rights group slammed the Biden administration after the US military was accused of leaving its contract dogs behind.
“I am devastated by reports that the American government is pulling out of Kabul and leaving behind brave U.S. military contract working dogs to be tortured and killed at the hand of our enemies,” American Humane president and CEO Robin Ganzert said in a .
“These brave dogs do the same dangerous, lifesaving work as our military working dogs, and deserved a far better fate than the one to which they have been condemned.”
Ganzert said her organization “has worked hand in hand with the military for more than 100 years to rescue military animals.”
She added that the group “brings home retired military working dogs and pairs veterans with life-saving service dogs.”
The animal activist then called on to act.
“We call on Congress to take action to classify contract working dogs on the same level as military working dogs. Failure to do anything less, is a failure of humanity and a condemnation of us all,” Ganzert said.
Did the Pentagon respond to the claims?
A Pentagon spokesperson disputed the allegation, telling the that no “military working dogs” had been left behind.
In an email, the spokesperson said the military’s “priority mission was the evacuation of U.S. citizens, SIV and vulnerable Afghans.”
The representative went on to blast the report, calling them “erroneous.”
“Photos circulating online were animals under the care of the Kabul Small Animal. Rescue, not dogs under the care of the U.S. military,” the spokesperson added.
“Despite an ongoing complicated and dangerous retrograde mission, U.S. forces went to great lengths to assist the Kabul Small Animal Rescue as much as possible.”
How many US service members were killed in the Kabul bombing?
after ISIS released a suicide bomber into the grounds near Kabul airport, where the US was helping innocent Afghans escape the Taliban-ruled city.
11 of those deceased were Marines, identified as Rylee McCollum, Nicole Gee, Dylan Merola, Kareem Nikoui, Jared Schmitz, Humberto Sanchez, Hunter Lopez, Taylor Hoover, Daegan Page, Johanny Rosario Pichardo, and 20-year-old David Lee Espinoza.
A US Navy medic has been identified as .
Finally, a US Army soldier named Ryan Knauss was also killed.
Five of the troops were just 20 years old – born not long before the attacks of September 11, 2001, which spurred the US to invade Afghanistan to topple al-Qaida and dismantle the .
“The 13 service members that we lost were heroes who made the ultimate sacrifice in service of our highest American ideals and while saving the lives of others,” Biden said in a statement on August 28.