Former official raises suspicion of privileged dogs on people
(v: ‘Afghanistan:’ Gb evacuation from Kabul … ‘at 08:11 am) (ANSA) – LONDON, DEC 07 – British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has strongly rejected the accusations made to his executive by a former senior official of the Foreign Office, Raphael Marshall, who spoke of a “chaotic” and totally disorganized withdrawal from Afghanistan. Instead, the prime minister praised the “absolutely exceptional work” done by diplomatic personnel during the evacuation of Kabul, admitting that “sometimes decisions take longer than we would like”. And he added: “It was still a surprising thing to fly 15,000 people from Kabul in such difficult circumstances.” Johnson branded as “meaningless” the suspicion, always advanced by the ‘deep throat’ Marshall, of having personally intervened to give priority to the evacuation of animals, especially dogs. There was also talk of alleged pressure made by the premier’s wife, Carrie Johnson, denied by Downing Street. The current Deputy Prime Minister, Dominic Raab, who was Foreign Minister at the time of the takeover of the Taliban, was also charged with the responsibility of coordinating the evacuation from Kabul on the British side. Labor leader Keir Starmer said in this regard: “He should have resigned at that moment, it would have been the most decent and honorable thing to do.” (HANDLE).