Taliban officials call for prosecution of Prince Harry
A group of Taliban officials in Helmand province, where British forces were based between 2006 and 2014 in Afghanistan, and another group of protesters who gathered in the provincial capital Lashkar Gah have called for the prosecution of the Duke of Sussex, Prince Harry, for revealing that he killed 25 fighters whom he considers as chess pieces rather than persons.
This confession made in his highly-anticipated book, Spare, further revealed that this was done during his time in the military, where he had tours in Afghanistan. During one tour between 2012 and 2013, he served as an Apache attack helicopter co-pilot gunner. Harry writes in the book that the killings of the 25 Afghans did not fill him with satisfaction, but he was not ashamed either.
Hameedullah Hameedi, a member of the provincial council in Helmand, said: “If Harry considered himself a member of a civilised world, this is a shame for him to say that he killed 25 people. And it is an even bigger shame for him to talk about it proudly, like an illiterate person from a poor society with no knowledge and no education.”
He used the opportunity to state the demand of the group; “We are not only demanding that he be prosecuted in the international court, but also demanding the international community punish him as soon as possible. It will definitely have an impact on British-Afghan relations because people are aware that it is a British officer belonging to the Royal Family – Prince Harry – who martyred 25 Afghans and has committed such crimes.”
The relative of a victim of a 2011 airstrike said to have been carried out by British forces, Mullah Abdullah, was among those saying Harry should be put on trial. He said he lost nine relatives when an airstrike hit his house at the market in the village of Yakhchal in the Nahr-E-Saraj district.
He spoke from the graveside of his dead father, who was among those killed: “We ask the international community to put this person (Prince Harry) on trial, and we should get compensation for our losses. We lost our house, our life, and family members, we lost our livelihood and also our loved ones.”
Samiullah Sayed, deputy director of education in Helmand, added: “As the prince has admitted, he has martyred 25 people. Harry and the others who invaded Afghanistan have committed the same crimes. As an independent nation, we will never ever forget the brutality, savagery and their cruelty that they performed against our country and our people.”
Various members of the British military have taken exception to the duke going public with the number he killed. Retired Royal Navy officer rear admiral Chris Parry told Sky News that in 35 years of service, including in combat, he had never heard a colleague say what their score was. “I’m afraid to say it’s clumsy, tasteless and does not afford respect to the people who have been killed,” he stated.
And former senior army officer Colonel Richard Kemp said he thought Harry’s comments were “ill-judged” and could incite an attack on British soldiers.
Sky’s international affairs editor Dominic Waghorn said Harry’s dispassionately describing what he did is a propaganda and recruitment godsend to the country’s enemies, something borne out by the reaction on Taliban and other extremist social media. But retired former senior intelligence officer Philip Ingram said he recognised in Harry the signs of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and said he needed to be protected rather than criticised further.
SkyNews/S.O
