Paul Farthing, better known as “Pen,” has been campaigning to get 69 workers from his animal welfare charity Nowzad and 200 rescue animals out of Afghanistan in a plan dubbed Operation Ark.

He chartered a privately-funded plane to land at Kabul Airport, but accused the U.K. government of delaying the paperwork to facilitate the evacuation.

On Wednesday, U.K. Defense Secretary Ben Wallace confirmed that Farthing can land the plane and evacuate his staff and animals.

“Now that Pen Farthing’s staff have been cleared to come forward under LOTR, I have authorised MOD to facilitate their processing alongside all other eligible personnel at HKIA,” Wallace tweeted.

“At that stage, if he arrives with his animals we will seek a slot for his plane. If he does not have his animals with him he and his staff can board an RAF flight.”

Wallace added: “I have been consistent all along, ensuring those most at risk are processed first and that the limiting factor has been flow THROUGH to airside NOT airplane capacity. No one has the right in this humanitarian crisis to jump the queue.”

Wallace earlier denied blocking Farthing’s plans, and maintained that he could not prioritize animals over people as the U.S. and its allies continue airlifting their citizens and Afghans after the Taliban’s takeover of the country.

“Pen was offered a flight. He’s a British passport holder. His wife left, I think, on Friday,” he said on Good Morning Britain. “At the moment, he has chosen to stay with both the animals and the pets as well as his personnel.”

Wallace said while Farthing’s workers are eligible to resettle in the U.K., there are “people we have to prioritize at the moment to get them out of the country.”

He added: “It doesn’t matter how many charter planes you fly in… It takes, at minimum, 24 hours for some of these people to queue, to get to the airport and get through the Taliban checkpoints… But when it comes to the animals, I’m afraid I have to prioritize people over them.”

Farthing responded to the comments on Sky News, saying: “Mr. Wallace, I never asked you to prioritize pets over people.”

He maintained that animals would be traveling in the aircraft’s cargo hold.

He added: “We’ve got a fight and I’ve said, we will wait. You’ve just got to give us this call sign so that we can actually get it in play… I’m not leaving here without my staff.”

The U.K. Ministry of Defense and Farthing have been contacted for additional comment.