Prince Harry’s new memoir Spare attracts anger and protests in Afghanistan33 minutes in the past

Protesters in southern Afghanistan on Sunday gathered following Prince Harry’s declare in his new memoir that he killed 25 individuals he described as Taliban fighters whereas posted with British forces within the nation.

Round 20 school and college students demonstrated at a neighborhood college in Helmand, the province the place British forces had been largely concentrated in the course of the NATO and U.S.-led coalition operations in Afghanistan.

“We condemn his [Prince Harry’s] motion which is towards all norms of humanity,” one demonstrator mentioned. Others carried posters exhibiting Harry’s portrait with a pink `X’ throughout it.

Sayed Ahmad Sayed, a trainer on the college, condemned Harry for his function in British army operations in Afghanistan.

“The cruelties which have been dedicated by Prince Harry, his pals or by anybody else in Helmand or anyplace in Afghanistan is unacceptable, merciless. These acts will probably be remembered by historical past,” Mr. Sayed mentioned on the protest.

NATO and U.S. troops withdrew in August, 2021, from the nation after 20 years of warfare there and operating air operations in help of the Western-backed Afghan authorities’s struggle towards a Taliban insurgency. Their withdrawal set the stage for the Taliban’s fast return to energy that month.

In his memoir, Spare, Harry says he killed greater than two dozen Taliban militants whereas serving as an Apache helicopter co-pilot gunner in Afghanistan in 2012-2013. He writes that he feels neither satisfaction nor disgrace about his actions, and within the warmth of battle regarded enemy combatants as items being faraway from a chessboard, “Baddies eradicated earlier than they might kill Goodies,” the prince writes.

Harry’s determination to place a quantity on these he killed, and the guide’s comparability of these to chess items, drew outrage from Taliban officers, and concern from British veterans.

“We ask the worldwide group to place this individual [Prince Harry] on trial, and we should always get compensation for our losses,” mentioned Mullah Abdullah, who misplaced 4 members of the family in what he described as a British air strike in 2011 that hit his household dwelling within the Nahr-e-Saraj space of Helmand.

“We misplaced our home, life, and members of the family. We misplaced our livelihood and in addition our family members,” mentioned Mr. Abdullah, whereas visiting the graves of the members of the family he misplaced within the strike.

The media director for the Taliban governor of Helmand, Mawlavi Mohammad Qasim, mentioned Harry’s claims in his memoirs “uncovered the actual face of the Western world.”

“It’s a clear indication of their merciless and horrific actions,” he mentioned.