アフガン空港に取り残された犬たち　新たな任務へ

【カブールＡＦＰ＝時事】アフガニスタンの首都カブールの空港内に、犬の訓練センターが仮設された。ここを新しいすみかとし、新たな調教師らから訓練を受けているのは、先月の退避作戦の混乱の中で取り残された犬たちだ。（写真はアフガニスタン・カブールの空港に取り残されているのが見つかり、保護された犬）
　置き去りにされた犬の所有者は分かっていないが、多くは空港内の米軍が使用していた区域で見つかった。調教師らによると、中には爆発物の探知訓練を受けていた犬もいるという。
　同空港の警備会社に勤務する調教師のヘワド・アジジさんはＡＦＰに対し、最後の米兵らがアフガンを離れるとすぐに「犬を助けに行った」と語った。
　アジジさんは、３０頭の犬を発見。うち半数は米軍が占有していた区域、また数頭は、アフガン警察が使用していた区域で見つかった。
　米軍撤退完了から数時間後、動物愛護団体「動物の倫理的扱いを求める人々の会（ＰＥＴＡ）」は、米軍が爆発物探知犬６０頭とその他の使役犬６０頭を置き去りにしたと発表。
　ＰＥＴＡは、犬たちが「暑さの中で十分な餌も水もなく、苦しんでいる」として、ジョー・バイデン米大統領に対し「直ちに行動を起こす」よう訴えていた。これを受けて米国防総省は、軍関係者らが犬を遺棄した事実はないと即座に否定していた。
　犬たちは現在、米軍の航空機や装備が収められていた格納庫に面した、同警備会社内の訓練センターに収容されている。アジジさんと同僚らが餌やりなどの世話をし、訓練を行っている。
　アジジさんは「犬たちの訓練を通してこれまでの任務を調べた」結果、一部が爆発物探知犬と判明したと明かした。犬たちをどう活用していくかが、現在検討されている。犬たちは徐々に再開される同空港内で、近く任務に就く予定。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】

〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2021/09/15-10:04）

In a makeshift training centre at Kabul airport, dozens of dogs that were left behind during last month's chaotic evacuations from Afghanistan have found a new home -- and new handlers.
While it is unclear who the dogs belonged to, many were found in the section of the airport that was used by American forces, and some were trained to sniff out explosives, their new handlers say.
They are among the remnants of the two-decade American intervention which ended with the hurried airlift of more than 120,000 people from Kabul as the Taliban returned to power.
Handler Hewad Azizi, who works for a company handling security at the airport, said he went out looking for abandoned dogs as soon as the last US soldier left.
When I saw (the soldiers leaving) I went to save the dogs, he told AFP at the training centre, which faces hangars that were used for US planes and military equipment.
He found 30 -- half of them in the area that was controlled by US forces. More were found in zones that belonged to former Afghan police.
The dogs are now being fed, cared for and trained by Azizi and his colleagues at the security company's training centre, housed in two converted shipping containers separated by a weed-strewn strip of earth.
The United States pulled its final troops out of Afghanistan on August 30, ending America's longest war just ahead of the anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks that prompted the US-led invasion.
- 'Bomb dogs' -
Hours after the last soldier left, animal rights group PETA said in a statement that 60 bomb-sniffing dogs and 60 other working dogs were left behind by the US forces.
The group appealed to President Joe Biden to take immediate action, warning that the dogs were suffering in the heat without adequate access to food or water.
The Pentagon quickly denied that US military personnel abandoned some of their dogs at the airport.
To correct erroneous reports, the US military did not leave any dogs in cages at Hamid Karzai International Airport, including the reported military working dogs, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby tweeted.
Azizi and his colleagues are not sure about the identity of the previous owners. All they are focusing on now is how to put them back to work when the airport returns to normal.
We have done training with them to find out what they are used for exactly, he explained, adding that they have realised they are bomb dogs.
Azizi's favourite dog, Rex, a dark brown Malinois, is one of the recent discoveries.
Every day, he takes Rex for a walk in a small deserted area a few metres away from three old Afghan Air Force planes.
In a small stretch of land littered with bullet cases and empty bags of US military meal rations, he hides a box that smells like explosives and sends Rex to find it.
Seconds later, Rex returns with the box and is given a ball to play with as a reward.
We train them to see how we can use them, explained Mohamad Mourid, a supervisor at the centre which operates under the umbrella of GAAC, the UAE-based company handling ground and security operations at the airport since last year.
We feed them, give them water, and clean them.
Soon the dogs will be put to work as the airport, which shut for repairs after the evacuations, gradually reopens.