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07-01-2023
By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report + Agencies
KABUL/ ISLAMABAD/ LONDON: A senior Taliban official on Friday slammed Prince Harry after the royal disclosed that he killed 25 people on military duty in Afghanistan and said it was like removing “chess pieces” from aboard.
In his memoir to be released next week, Harry reveals the exact number of people he killed during two tours of duty, British media has reported.
“My number is 25. It’s not a number that fills me with satisfaction, but nor does it embarrass me,” he wrote in the book “Spare” due to be out on Tuesday.
Anas Haqqani, a senior Taliban leader, criticized the Duke of Sussex over the remarks, saying those Harry killed were Afghans who had families.
“Harry! The ones you killed were not chess pieces, they were humans,” Haqqani tweeted, accusing the prince of committing “war crimes”.
“The truth is what you’ve said; our innocent people were chess pieces to your soldiers, military and political leaders.
“Still, you were defeated in that ‘game’.”
Harry served 10 years in the British military, rising to the rank of captain.
He carried out two tours of duty against the Taliban, first as a forward air controller calling in air strikes in 2007 and 2008, and later flying an attack helicopter in 2012 and 2013.
Cameras mounted on the nose of his Apache helicopter enabled him to assess his missions and determine with certainty how many he had killed.
He justified his actions using the memory of the 9/11 attacks in the United States and after meeting the families of the victims.
Those responsible and their sympathizers were “enemies of humanity” and fighting them was an act of vengeance for a crime against humanity, he wrote in the book.
Harry has since voiced concern about his security due to his royal status and time-fighting militants.
Earlier, Prince Harry claimed that he killed 25 Taliban fighters in Afghanistan but has no regret on his act.
Prince Harry, who was known as ‘Captain Wales’ in the royal military – has revealed some astonishing details in his book Spare, claiming he killed 25 Taliban fighters during his second tour of duty in Afghanistan.
The Duke of Sussex, as per Daily Mail, penned in his memoir that he did not think of those killed ‘as people’ but instead ‘chess pieces’ he had taken off the board. He reportedly flew an Apache attack helicopter during his duty in Afghanistan.
The Duke of Sussex, whose’ book accidentally hit shelves in Spain before its official release date, claimed it was ‘not a fact that filled me with satisfaction, but I was not ashamed either’.
The 38-year-old royal has specified the number of insurgents he personally killed during fight in the country, where he went in both 2007-8 and 2012.
The Duke, in ‘Spare’, has claimed that he flew on six missions that resulted in the ‘taking of human lives’ in his leaked autobiography.
Harry wrote: ‘And it seemed to me essential not to be afraid of that number. So my number is 25. It’s not a number that fills me with satisfaction, but nor does it embarrass me.’
Harry was first deployed to Helmand province as a forward air controller in 2007, but his first tour of duty was cut short when an Australian magazine broke a media embargo by mistake. He returned in 2012 with the Ministry of Defence publicizing his second deployment on the understanding that the media would allow him to get on with the job at hand.
