What We Know About the Claims of Military Dogs Left in Kabul
Q: Did the U.S. abandon its military dogs during its withdrawal from Afghanistan?
A: The Department of Defense maintains that none of its military service dogs were left behind. But animal welfare groups say some contract working dogs — which did not belong to the U.S., though some may have been contracted by the military — were left at the Kabul airport.
FULL QUESTION
Did the U.S. military abandon their service dogs in Afghanistan?
FULL ANSWER
As the U.S.’s 20-year war in Afghanistan came to a chaotic end — with Americans and Afghans attempting to flee the country, some unsuccessfully — viral posts on social media turned their attention to the fate of the dogs that worked with the military.
In an Aug. 30 Instagram post liked more than 259,000 times, Republican Rep. Madison Cawthorn shared an image of dog carriers in front of a damaged helicopter, which he indicated was at the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul. “Photo of our American service dogs left behind in the airport,” Cawthorn claimed.
