Taliban criticise Prince Harry over Afghan killing
Britain’s Prince Harry revealed in an upcoming book of his memoirs that he killed 25 people as an Apache helicopter pilot during his second tour in Afghanistan.
Prince Harry’s claim in the book, titled Spare, which will be available at bookstores in the UK next week, came as the book’s Spanish version was accidentally put on sale in Spain.
The Duke of Sussex, who has stepped down from his royal duties and left the UK with his wife Meghan Markle, flew during the war in Afghanistan and his missions resulted in “the taking of human lives.” He reportedly said in the book that he was neither proud nor ashamed of the killings as he described those killed as “baddies” who tried to kill “goodies.”
Prince Harry did not think of the 25 killed as “people” but as “chess pieces” that had been taken off the board, according to The Tele graph, which said it obtained a copy of Spare in Spanish.
Meanwhile, the Taliban on Friday slammed Prince Harry after the royal disclosed he killed 25 people on military duty in Afghanistan and said it was like removing “chess pieces” from a board.
Anas Haqqani, a senior Taliban leader, criticised the Duke of Sussex over the remarks, saying those Harry killed were Afghans who had families.
“Mr 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’.”
Abdul Qahar Balkhi, spokesperson for the Taliban-led Afghan foreign affairs ministry, also criticised Harry’s comments.
“The western occupation of Afghanistan is truly an odious moment in human history and comments by Prince Harry is a microcosm of the trauma experienced by Afghans at the hands of occupation forces who murdered innocents without any accountability,” he said.—Agencies
