Sacrificed for Optics – The truth about the Afghanistan contract service dogs

Frantically scrambling to crate and transport working dogs supplied by US military contractors out of Afghanistan, volunteer rescue organizations overcame Taliban blockades and government red tape. For days they worked feverishly while the primary focus and resources of the United States government dedicated itself to human refugees. Working dogs belonging directly to United States military branches were safe, thanks to a law that mandates those animals to never be left behind. But, as is typical, the United States government found a loophole over the last two decades. Hiring private military contractors to provide working canines meant there was no legal requirement to ensure those animals were safely returned after their mission was over.

A couple of years ago I was offered a very tempting contract with one of those contractors to work as a protection dog handler. The initial interview got me intensely interested in the massive cash benefits and the prospect of serving my country in support of the U. S. military. I was offered a contract and came very close to signing up. The initial excitement wore off quickly as I did my final research before accepting the offer. I spoke with former contract service dog handlers who had worked in both Afghanistan and Iraq. They told me horror stories about the treatment of the contract dogs and the lousy equipment they were forced to depend on. They told me that an appalling number of the animals died within months of deployment due to neglect by the native kennel keepers hired to care for the animals while off duty. Starvation, excrement filled kennels, disease, and sometimes outright brutal intentional killings.

I turned down the job and instead began writing letters to congress, which obviously made no impact.

Yesterday we saw photos flood the internet of dogs in crates stacked at the Kabul airport. Frantic pleas had been made to get those contract service dogs out by animal rescue organizations. People had risked their lives transporting them to the airport under the constraints of the Biden administration’s botched pull-out and optics-induced timeline. Flight after flight had landed and taken off from the airport transporting Afghan refugees and American citizens to safety. My sources tell me eight out of every ten of those flights had plenty of room to bring those dogs on board. But they were denied time after time.

I made no sense to me. I understand that human lives are more valuable, and if space was limited a human should get a seat before a dog every time. But space wasn’t limited. Resources and volunteer personnel were available to travel with the animals and care for them in flight. Those organizations had done all the work, invested all the funds, and provided all the resources and manpower. All they needed was permission to load the crates onto a plane. Just before the last plane left the Kabul airport yesterday, military personnel opened all those crates and turned the dogs loose to fend for themselves in a culture where it is a sin to keep dogs as pets because they are believed to be unclean animals. A culture where revenge and retribution is visited even upon animals that had been used as tools against the Taliban. They will stone their own women to death and thus will stone a dog to death even faster.

Late last night the reason finally became clear to me. These innocent animals were sacrificed for optics by the Biden administration. Direct orders were passed down to deny the dogs a place on any flights because Biden’s handlers were concerned that they would be criticized for appearing to use resources to save dogs when American citizens were still trapped outside the airport. It was simply more efficient to deny the animals safety than to take the heat of any criticism created by a false perception and have to explain themselves.