It’s not just humans who
are struggling to get out of crisis-hit Afghanistan but also animals. One such
incident is of an American woman, Charlotte Maxwell-Jones, who is stranded with
250 rescued animals, along with 125 of her relatives and employees. Speaking
to an American military newspaper, she explained that a ‘landing permit’ is
preventing her from transporting the animals. Speaking to the National Public
Radio, she cautioned that come August 31, “all bets would be off” if the group
is unable to turn the tide by then.

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Maxwell-Jones has played
host to around a dozen Taliban in a weeks’ time, armed with rocket
launchers, offering to escort the party to the Kabul airport. The rescuer
uploaded a video on Twitter, claiming that she was visited by the “Taliban chief of
foreign embassies & foreign organizations” along with 12 other armed men.
They tried to place “guards” inside her house, who then settled on being
stationed outside the premises.

She has turned down a
diktat by the Taliban to leave the land-locked nation till the time everyone in
her contingent is cleared to land in a 3rd country.

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With horrific events
unfolding in Afghanistan each day, she is afraid it’ll get difficult to obtain
a landing permit. In 2018, she founded the ‘Kabul Small Animal Rescue’ (KSAR)
for rescuing animals in need. The organisation has raised more than $700,000 so
far and aims to raise approximately $1 million within the deadline to leave
the country.

KSAR says it is on a
prowl for a country which allows animals to land on their soil, although, it is
unclear as to why permission has not been granted so far in spite of all
necessary paperwork being in sync with the relevant US laws. The group has
been tweeting out desperate SOS messages to garner support & secure
funding.