RIYADH: A senior leader of the Afghan Taliban has strongly criticized Prince Harry over his acknowledgement that he killed as many as 25 people in Afghanistan while serving as a co-pilot and gunner in the country in 2012-2013.
In an interview with Arab News, Suhail Shaheen, a leader of the Afghan Taliban, said Prince Harry should be ashamed for his actions in Afghanistan. Shaheen added that the people Harry killed were innocent villagers and not the “enemy combatants”.
The Taliban leader demanded that Harry should be brought to justice, adding: “If their laws are destined for the safety of human rights, then the prince should be tried in a court of law. The prince has admitted that he killed as many as 25 people. It is a crime.”
Shaheen maintained that Harry was not the only one who killed innocent people in Afghanistan. “Many other troops have done the same actions. There are a lot of cases in the country. Many families lost their breadwinners. Thousands of innocent people, farmers and villagers were killed in their fields.”
Prince Harry spent several years in the British army and also served twice in Afghanistan. In his recently released book “Spare,” the prince admitted that he had killed two dozen Afghans, and said he felt neither shame nor satisfaction about his acts.
The Afghan Taliban returned to power when the US troops withdrew from Afghanistan in 2021. As per media reports, more than 450 British troops were killed during their stay in Afghanistan.
