US woman left behind in Kabul with 130 rescue dogs thanks to DOD no-fly animal policy

A Tennessee woman who owns an animal rescue center in Kabul was not allowed passage home by the Department of Defense because she carried a disabled puppy in her arms — one of 130 animals she was ordered to leave behind in the final days of airlifts.

Charlotte Maxwell-Jones refused to board the plane without her puppy on Monday, so the military ordered her to leave and turn loose 130 crated dogs that mostly belonged to Americans and Afghans who evacuated, according to social media postings. This occurred even though Maxwell-Jones secured flights from nonprofit organizations that had permission to land in a neutral country.

She left the airport after being stuck there for six days and returned home to an uncertain fate.

The Taliban visited Maxwell-Jones at home last week and ordered her to leave with her employees, she said in a tearful video posted on Twitter. She raised $703,705 on a GoFundMe page for an animal evacuation and desperately sought a landing permit.