Kunar is a four-legged, furry Afghan, but not the kind with floppy ears and golden Fabio hair. To hear his owner describe him, he is "the luckiest dog alive." What makes Kunar so lucky?

Kunar was a dog on an Afghan military base.  In Afghanistan, according to Joe, an American soldier whose real name is being withheld for reasons of personal and professional safety, dogs aren't looked upon as sweet potential housemates.  Instead, they're considered vermin for various reasons: There's poverty, for one, and cultural and religious differences mean many stray dogs in Afghanistan are shot, run over by vehicles, or simply die from disease or starvation.

But Kunar survived the streets of Afghanistan in the unlikeliest of ways: As a puppy, he found an Afghan military base; in particular, he found an American soldier who worked on that base for a portion of every day with some influential people.  A bond formed between Puppy (as he was then called) and his American human.

"Kunar was a little bit of home," Joe remembered. "It just takes your mind off of everything when a dog takes your gloves and runs off."

So when the directive came to get rid of the dog, Joe became an advocate Puppy.

Of course, there would be obstacles.  When it was suggested that Puppy return to Joe's friend's base, he balked.  Here was the thing: General Order Number 1, a military code of conduct directive, now included possession of pets as a prohibited activity subject to punitive action.  And Joe, having a reasonably firm grasp of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, knew this. He suggested jokingly to the Afghan General he worked with that Puppy should stay behind as a guard dog for the general, who suggested the dog go back to Joe's Forward Operating Base.  

However, "I knew they would kill him if he showed up on my base," Joe recalled.

The dilemma seemed to have a resolution when a State Department employee remembered an organization that could help if the dog could somehow make it to Kabul.  Enter our friends at the Puppy Rescue Mission, or PRM.

She took Joe's email address, and two weeks later, Puppy was gone.

It turned out that the Afghan general Joe worked for had some of his soldiers take Puppy to Kabul so the organization could get Puppy (now Kunar) to his current home.  

But of course, it wasn't that easy.

First off, Joe never believed it would happen.  When he was notified by PRM and asked, "where do you want us to send him?" - after he'd met a nice girl who was not a dog person and he was about to deploy again - he thought it was a scam.  But there at the Kansas City Airport, Joe was happily reunited with Puppy, now a grown dog.  Fortunately, in Kansas City, RC Kennels took Kunar in so Joe could deploy - and break the news to the woman (let's call her Mary) who would eventually become Kunar's mom.  

That part of the story ends with a call from Mary to Joe while he was deployed.

"Kunar won't sleep with me!" she said.

Now, Mary is an affirmed dog person and has become involved with PRM's efforts to rescue Afghanistan's stray dogs who have bonded in some small, clandestine way with American soldiers.

"I'm confident I didn't do anything wrong," said Joe. "In my heart, I wanted to save Puppy.  Any of the soldiers who watched Kunar running saw him bring us a little piece of home."  

So now the furry little piece of home from a hostile place has a safe and cozy space to call his own.  Of course, he sleeps under the bed, but the family has adjusted.

Follow and support the efforts of the Puppy Rescue Mission on Facebook or at puppyrescuemission.com.