Mr Farthing said he was ‘so bloody happy’ when his staff managed to get to Pakistan last month (Picture: PA)He added: ‘Definitely the American government and the British government could have planned this withdrawal a lot better and in a different way, without a shadow of a doubt.

The emotive language of Gaby Hinsliff’s article (What a story to tell the world: Britain values dogs more than Afghan people, 30 August ) not only risks deflecting attention from the consequences of the reactive, rather than proactive, response of the British government, but also suggests that one cannot care equally about the victims of humanitarian crises and the plight of other innocent species in manmade conflicts.