An animal rights group released a statement condemning the White House for leaving U.S. military contract working dogs behind to be “tortured and killed” in Afghanistan after U.S. troops withdrew from the country on Aug. 31.

“I am devastated by reports that the American government is pulling out of Kabul and leaving behind brave U.S. military contract working dogs to be tortured and killed at the hand of our enemies,” said CEO of American Humane Dr. Robin R. Ganzert. 

“These brave dogs do the same dangerous, lifesaving work as our military working dogs, and deserved a far better fate than the one to which they have been condemned.”

He said their “senseless fate” was made more tragic because American Humane was prepared to transport the K-9 soldiers back to the states and provide medical care for their entire lifetime. 

The organization has worked with the military to rescue soldier dogs from battlefields since the program began in WWI at the request of the then U.S. Secretary of War.

“As the country’s first national humane organization and largest certifier of animal welfare in the world, it sickens us to sit idly by and watch these brave dogs who valiantly served our country be put to death or worse,” he continued.

The program brings home retired military working dogs and pairs them with veterans as a form of animal therapy. “In order to prevent this tragedy from occurring, these K-9’s should be loaded into whatever cargo space remains and flown to safety,” Ganzert asserted.

He called on Congress to classify contract working dogs on the same level as military working dogs so that “this gross oversight of justice must be stopped from happening again, as it did in Vietnam too.”

“Failure to do anything less is a failure of humanity and a condemnation of us all,” he concluded.