Pen Farthing's rescue plane has not yet taken off from the UK as friends 'hope and pray' he will be able to escape Kabul with his animals - after he was turned away from the airport by Taliban militants due to President Joe Biden changing visa rules.
The animal charity boss had chartered a private plane which was due to take off from Luton, but it was unable to do so due in the wake of an ISIS attack that killed 103 people, including 13 US troops.
His friend, fellow activist Dominic Dyer - who had been hoping to board the flight from the UK - said the 'security situation' had prevented it from going ahead.
'There is a plan that we could operate but I just don't know if that could be possible,' he told Good Morning Britain. 'We hope and pray we can get him, his staff and animals home.'
Mr Farthing suffered another crippling setback yesterday when the Taliban blocked him from entering the airport so he could board a British military jet.
He tweeted: 'The whole team & dogs/cats were safely 300m inside the airport perimeter. We were turned away as @JoeBiden had changed paperwork rules just 2 hours earlier.
'Went through hell to get there & we were turned away into the chaos of those devastating explosions. #OperationArk
Mr Farthing, who founded the Nowzad animal shelter in Kabul, has said he will be forced to leave Afghanistan without his 25 Afghan staff and their families after they told him to flee 'with as many cats and dogs' as possible.
Animal charity boss Pen Farthing, who is stuck in Afghanistan with 200 dogs and cats, said his 'mission' to get them and his staff out of the country has been unsuccessful and he is now likely to have to leave the country on his own
The former Royal Marine, who founded the Nowzad animal shelter in Kabul, has been engaged in a desperate attempt to board an RAF evacuation flight in recent days
Mr Farthing suffered another crippling setback yesterday when the Taliban blocked him from entering the airport so he could board a British military jet
Yesterday, he narrowly avoided the airport suicide bomb blasts which rocked the area, killing 12 US serviceman and up to 90 Afghans.
He revealed in an interview with the that he has been forced to give up on his attempt to get his animals and staff out of the country due to a decision by US President Joe Biden to change the rules on who is allowed into the airfield.
Mr Farthing said that even though his staff had been 'given approval' by the British Government to board a flight, 'the Taliban would not accept their paperwork' because they had been told to only allow people through who had a 'physical passport with a visa in it'.
He said his staff have now told him it is 'time to go' over fears for his safety, but added that he will be unable to take any of his animals due to the new rules.
Yesterday, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace hit out at criticism from supporters Mr Farthing after they claimed the minister had blocked a flight which would have taken the animals.
Mr Farthing's group also narrowly avoided the airport suicide bomb blasts which rocked the area yesterday, killing 12 US serviceman and up to 90 Afghans. Above: Wounded Afghans in hospital after the blasts
US officials announced that 12 American troops were killed in the suicide blast. Above: British soldiers in Kabul
Two boys embrace each other as they weep in the parking lot at Wazir Akbar Khan hospital, in Kabul, after the blast
In a series of tweets, Mr Wallace lashed out at 'bullying, falsehoods and threatening behaviour' towards Ministry of Defence staff.
Speaking on Thursday evening, Mr Farthing said: 'We got inside that airfield and just before that horrendous attack... we were told that Joe Biden had changed the policy on who is allowed into the airfield.
'And so my staff, even though they had been given approval by the British Government, the Taliban would not accept their paperwork because they had been told they could only allow people in with a physical passport with a visa in it.
'The Taliban obviously control the outer part of the airfield, so there is nothing I can do.'
He added: 'My mission to get them out of Afghanistan has just ended because Joe Biden stopped it.
Before news of the attack emerged, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace blasted Mr Farthing's supporters for claiming he had blocked a flight to rescue the animals, saying it was a 'total myth'
'I can't overrule the President of the United States, he has said what paperwork that they need to obviously be able to get into the airfield.'
He said his staff have told him to leave because they do not think he will be 'welcome' under Taliban rule once Western forces have left.
'They asked me if I can get as many of the dogs and cats out with me so yeah,' he said.
'I can't take them with me because I can't get them now past those Taliban checkpoints because of the regulation that has come down.'
Describing his group's route to the airport, he said: 'We had gone through hell to get there, we have had Taliban cock their weapons and point them at our faces, one of them had what we used to call in the marines an ND - a negligent discharge where they basically accidentally pull the trigger.
'It was a miracle that he was an absolutely rubbish aim, otherwise one of us wouldn't be here now.'
Yesterday's bomb blasts occurred after Mr Farthing's staff were refused passage through the Taliban checkpoint.
After the group had begun their journey with the animals back to their shelter, Mr Farthing said 'all hell broke loose' when the explosions went off'.