The Taliban government in Afghanistan has criticized Britain’s Prince Harry after he said in his memoirs that he killed 25 people in Afghanistan while serving as a military helicopter pilot and described those people as “chess pieces removed from the board”. The criticism from former British service members and a one-time national security adviser was also not long in coming.
Prince Harry’s highly personal book Spare has gone on sale in Spain ahead of its world premiere on January 10. It reveals the depth of his rift with his older brother William, other revelations such as his drug use, and how he lost his virginity.
Lord Darroch, a former British national security adviser, said he “would not advise” Prince Harry to reveal such details. Ben McBean, a ommando, cwho lost an arm and a leg while serving in the Royal Infantry in Afghanistan in 2008 and was referred to as a “true hero” by the younger son of King Charles III, tweeted: “Love you Prince Harry , then you must shut up.”
In one of the chapters in his book, Harry, 38, talks about his two missions in Afghanistan, first as an air-ground controller in 2007 and 2008 and in 2012, when he was the co-pilot and gunner of an Apache helicopter.
“It’s not a statistic that fills me with pride, but it doesn’t make me ashamed either. When I found myself immersed in the heat and chaos of battle, I didn’t think of those 25 people as people,” confides Prince Harry in his memoirs. “They were chess pieces removed from the board – bad people eliminated before they could kill good people,” he added.
Colonel Tim Collins, famous for a speech he gave during the Iraq war, said that after the publication of the book, the younger son of King Charles III, who lives in the United States with his wife Meghan Markle, has now turned and against “his other family – namely the military”, and called his allegations “a tragic money-making scam”. “This is not the way we behave in the military and it is not the way we think,” added the senior British military official.
Abdul Qahar Balhi, a spokesman for the Taliban-run Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, criticized Prince Harry’s claims. “The Western occupation of Afghanistan is a truly abhorrent moment in human history and (the British king’s younger son’s) comments are a throwback to the trauma experienced by Afghans at the hands of occupying forces who killed innocent people with impunity,” he said.
Anas Haqqani, one of the Taliban leaders in Afghanistan, also criticized the prince’s memoirs. “Mr. Harry! Those you killed were not chess pieces, they were human beings, they had families waiting for them to return. Among the killers of Afghans, there are not many who have the decency to open their conscience and admit the war crimes they committed. What you said is true… Our innocent people were chess pieces for your soldiers, military and political leaders,” Haqqani wrote on Twitter.
The publication of a book by a member of the British royal family, which strictly controls private information, comes after Prince Harry and his wife Meghan stepped down from their engagements as senior members of the family in 2020 and moved to California, US, in search of a new life, notes Reuters. As is customary for Buckingham Palace, spokespeople for King Charles III and Crown Prince William declined to comment on the matter.
The Island’s media is paying close attention to Prince Harry’s memoir. Many commuters in London today said they were not interested in the issue and did not want to comment, Reuters said.
Some of those who agreed to speak to the agency said they believed Prince Harry had gone too far.
“I think he’s an idiot,” said entrepreneur Robin Parker. “My father was in World War II, and I asked him once as a child if he had killed anyone, and he reluctantly avoided my question,” Parker said.
