US military dogs have been given seats onboard aircraft carrying out evacuations from Afghanistan, leaving desperate people stranded and drawing anger on social media.
NBC News' Chief Foreign Correspondent Richard Engel said many Afghans were outraged and offended Americans evacuated service dogs in Kabul, leaving people behind who helped out the US.
Ragip Soylu, the Turkey Bureau Chief for news website Middle East Eye, wrote: "The evacuation of US military dogs from the Kabul airport is more important than the Afghans who worked with the US military."
"The US military has managed to evacuate their service dogs in Afghanistan. They all got seats in the plane, but innocent Afghanis hang onto the tyres of the same plane and fell thousands of feet to their deaths. Let that sink in," another user wrote.
It comes just days after distressing videos showed hundreds of Afghans climbing onto the exterior of aircraft as they started to roll down the runway.
Many fell before the aircraft took off, but some fell to their deaths after it started climbing.
However, not everyone thinks the decision to evacuate the dogs is unfair.
"These dogs didn't volunteer to serve in Afghanistan. I can't understand why it would bother anyone to see dogs saved," one wrote.
Another said they deserved their seat because "they're American soldiers and marines... they help save lives, they're courageous and loyal unlike so many humans."
The Taliban has taken over much of Afghanistan following US President Joe Biden's decision to push ahead with the withdrawal of troops by August 31.
That had been delayed from the initial May 1 deadline set by Donald Trump's administration when they negotiated with the Taliban - without involvement from the Afghani Government - and freed 5000 imprisoned Taliban soldiers.
Protests against the Taliban's takeover have spread to more cities overnight with several people killed in Asadabad when militants fired on a crowd, according to Reuters.
"The Taliban urged unity ahead of Friday prayers and called on all imams in Kabul and the provinces to persuade people not to try to leave the country," the news agency reported.
