A senior official of the Afghan regime on Friday criticized Britain’s Prince Harry for revealing in a book that he had shot down 25 Taliban while serving as a soldier in Afghanistan, accusing him of committing “war crimes”.
Senior Taliban official Anas Haqqani said that in the book due next week, Harry said he saw Afghan fighters as “chess pieces” and revealed the exact number of people he killed during the two missions he carried out in Afghanistan.
“My number is 25. It is not a number that gives me satisfaction, but I am not ashamed of it either,” writes Harry, Duke of Sussex, in the book, the Spanish version of which went on sale for several hours on Thursday. withdrawn from the market.
Harry mentions that he viewed these people as “chess pieces” taken out of the game because he was instructed in military training, as it was “impossible”, he said, to shoot at a target “if you think it is a person “.
“Mr Harry, those you killed were not chess pieces, they were human beings,” insisted Haqqani, insisting on the war crimes charges.
“But in fact it is what it says: our innocent people were like chess pieces for their soldiers and for their military and political leaders. But despite everything, they lost that ‘game’,” he added.
The Afghan government spokesman Bilal Karimi also criticized Harry.
“These crimes are not limited to Harry, but to all the occupying powers who committed such crimes in our country. Afghans will never forget the crimes of the occupiers,” Karimi wrote on her personal Twitter account.
۱/۲ـ هری په نوم بریتانیا د یو یو شاهزاده اعتراف ، چې افغانستان کې خپل خپل ماموریت مهال ۲۵ ۲۵ هیوادوال توګه دا څرګندوي چې دغه یوازې تر منحصر نه نه نه نه دی، بلکې هراشغ الګر هیواد زموږ په هیواد کې د دا ډول جنایاتو داستان لري.
– Bilal Karimi (@BilalKarimi21) January 6, 2023
Harry served in the British Army for 10 years and finished his career as a captain.
He was deployed to Afghanistan twice, first in 2007 and 2008, when he was responsible for coordinating air strikes, and again in 2012 and 2013, then as a helicopter pilot.
Cameras mounted on the front of the helicopter made it possible to evaluate the success of the missions and also to accurately determine how many people were shot down.
Harry justified his actions with the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, emphasizing his belief that the enemies he fought in Afghanistan had committed a crime against humanity.
But Harry’s personal social media account has also been criticized in the UK.
“We love you so much, Prince Harry, but shut up!” wrote on Twitter Ben McBean, a former marine who lost an arm and a leg in Afghanistan in 2008 and who describes the Duke of Sussex in the book as a “true hero”.
love you #PrinceHarry but you must shut up! You wonder what people he hangs out with. If they were good people, someone would have told him to stop by now.
Ben Mcbean (@benmcbean) January 5, 2023
“Harry has now turned against his other family, the army,” retired Colonel Tim Collins, who served in the Iraq War, said in comments published on the British Army’s website.
“This is not how we behave in the army, this is not how we think,” Collins said of the prince’s account of the fighters he shot, deeming the book a “tragic blow to the money” .
This is not the first time Prince Harry has sparked controversy over his involvement in operations in Afghanistan.
In 2013, Harry stated that killing Rebel fighters was like playing a video game for a helicopter pilot.
Source: DN
