A senior Taliban official on Friday slammed Prince Harry after the royal announced he had killed 25 people on military duty in Afghanistan and said it was like removing “chess pieces” from a board.
In a memoir to be released next week, Harry recounts the number of people he killed during two tours of duty, British media reported.
“My number is 25. It’s not a number that fills me with satisfaction, but it also doesn’t embarrass me,” he wrote in the book “Spare” due out Tuesday.
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Prince Harry committed ‘war crimes’
Anas Haqqani, a senior Taliban leader, criticized the Duke of Sussex for his remarks, saying that Harry who was killed was an Afghan with a family.
“Mr Harry! What was killed was not a chess piece, but a human being,” Haqqani tweeted, accusing the prince of committing “war crimes”.
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“It’s true what you say; Our innocent people are chess pieces for your soldiers, military and political leaders.
“However, you lost the ‘game’.”
Harry served 10 years in the British military, rising to the rank of captain.
‘Enemy of Man’
He served two tours of duty against the Taliban, first as a forward air controller calling in airstrikes in 2007 and 2008, and then flying attack helicopters in 2012 and 2013.
A camera mounted on the nose of his Apache helicopter allowed him to evaluate the mission and determine with certainty the number of kills.
He justified his actions using the memory of the 9/11 attacks in the United States and after meeting with the victims’ families.
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Those responsible and sympathizers are the “enemies of humanity” and fighting them is an act of revenge for crimes against humanity, he wrote in the book.
Harry has since expressed concerns about security given his royal status and time fighting Islamic extremists.