Prince Harry has revealed, in his memoir, that he killed 25 people during his military service in Afghanistan. In the autobiography named “Spare”, which will be launched next week, the Duke of Sussex described the killing as taking “chess pieces” off the board during the combat, British media reported.
The revelation has drawn a sharp reaction from Taliban leader Anas Haqqani, who denounced Prince Harry saying that those he killed were not “chess pieces” but humans.
Sharing a photo of the memoir's cover, the Taliban leader, in a series of tweets, wrote, “Mr. Harry! The ones you killed were not chess pieces, they were humans; they had families who were waiting for their return.
He added, “Among the killers of Afghans, not many have your decency to reveal their conscience and confess to their war crimes”.
The leader added, “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” of white & black "square".”
Anas Haqqani said that he doesn't “expect that the ICC (International Criminal Court) will summon you or the human rights activists will condemn you, because they are deaf and blind for you.”
“But hopefully these atrocities will be remembered in the history of humanity,” he added.
While Prince Harry's much awaited-memoir will go on sale on January 10, a lot of its content has already been accessed by British and US media. According to extracts from the memoir, the 38-year-old royal shared that he was part of six missions as a pilot that led to him “taking human lives”. He said he was neither proud nor ashamed of eliminating the targets, reported Daily Telegraph.
Prince Harry served two tours of military duty against the Taliban in Afghanistan. He was initially a forward air controller from 2007-2008 and flew an attack helicopter from 2012-2013.