Service Dogs Not Left Behind In Afghanistan, Pentagon Denies Viral Claims

service dogs
service dogs

The Pentagon has denied all claims about not evacuating the United States Army’s service dogs from Afghanistan. Viral reports and images have surfaced that point otherwise.

All Service Dogs Have Been Evacuated

As the longest war of America came to a close, conservative activists, animal lovers, and politicians raised alarms on the internet that the United States was leaving behind service dogs. On Tuesday, Pentagon denied all such claims. Service dogs that were in the service of the military of the United States were not evacuated according to the claims. The Pentagon, at the same time, admitted that several media posts regarding the nonmilitary evacuation of pets in Kabul are the root of the confusion.

Eric Pahon, the spokesman of the Department of Defense, issued a special statement to get the facts straight. He said that the American military had not left any service dogs locked in cages at Afghanistan’s Hamid Karzai International Airport.

In the past few days, a group concerned with animal welfare has been evacuating animals still left behind in Kabul. The group said that it included several service dogs that were associated with Kabul’s security services. The Pentagon, however, denied the service dogs were ever cared for by them.

On 27th August, the group called Kabul Small Animal Rescue said that they were evacuating the animals in place’s cargo holds. The group had named the evacuation as “Operation Hercules”. However, neither that post nor any older ones ever mentioned anything regarding them being service animals. On Tuesday, SPCA International updated that about 46 dogs who were employed and several pets of Americans were evacuated.

On Monday, American Humane’s CEO and president wrote a public letter openly criticizing the U.S. military for apparently leaving behind the service animals.