'Doing what you were sent to do,' says Harry who killed 25 Afghans

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
5 Mar 2023 10:07
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The Duke of Sussex says the UK troops carried out what they were trained to do during the war on Afghanistan despite their opinion on the war.

Prince Harry and Dr. Gabor Maté during a live-stream interview on Saturday (Zoom screenshot)

During the UK's invasion of Afghanistan, British soldiers did what they signed up for despite their opinion on the war, Duke of Sussex Prince Harry told therapist Dr. Gabor Maté during a Zoom live-stream on Saturday.

In response to Maté stating that his opinion on the war on the Asian country did not meet with the Western rhetoric, Harry responded, "One of the reasons why so many people in the United Kingdom were not supportive of our troops was because they assumed that everybody that was serving was for the war."

“But no, once you sign up, you do what you’re told to do," the Prince added, discussing his military tours to Afghanistan.

“So there was a lot of us that didn’t necessarily agree or disagree, but you were doing what you were trained to do, you were doing what you were sent to do,” he said, hinting that the top commanders and the UK government bear responsibility for the crimes committed during the invasion and later on during the decades-long occupation, claiming that the troops were only following orders.

The Duke's comment, however, contradicts his earlier boasting about murdering 25 people during the war on Afghanistan, describing the people he killed as "baddies" and "chess pieces" that had to be removed from the board.

“Baddies eliminated before they could kill Goodies,” Harry said in his memoir "Spare".

“If there’s people trying to do bad stuff to our guys, then we’ll take them out of the game,” the Prince said, disregarding the fact that the war was actually a western invasion of a country under false claims.

Harry served in the British military for ten years, all the way up to the rank of captain.

He served twice, first as a forward air controller ordering in airstrikes in 2007 and 2008, and then as an attack helicopter pilot in 2012 and 2013.

They were Humans

Senior Taliban official Anas Haqqani bashed then the Duke of Sussex over the remarks, saying those Harry killed were Afghans who had families.

"Mr. Harry! The ones you killed were not chess pieces, they were humans," Haqqani tweeted, accusing the Prince of committing "war crimes".

"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'."

Afghan government spokesperson Bilal Karimi also criticized Harry for his remarks.

"Such crimes are not limited to Harry, but every occupying country has a history of such crimes in our country," he tweeted.

"Afghans will never forget the crimes of the occupiers and will always keep the spirit of protecting their religion and country alive."

UK hiding number of Afghani children killed

In November 2022, Action on Armed Violence (AOAV) revealed in a report that the UK government had been covering the actual toll of children killed by their forces in Afghanistan between the years of 2006 and 2014.

However, the AOAV said the actual number might be as high as 135 since the British MoD does not always disclose ages and death circumstances rather just sons and daughters.

Data showed that despite Britain publicly acknowledging the killing of 16 children during its invasion of Afghanistan, the government compensated for the death of 64 children.

In September 2021, The Guardian also revealed that the British forces in Afghanistan were behind the deaths of close to 300 civilians in Afghanistan; 86 children and more than 200 adults.

British Special Forces committed war crimes

In July 2022, UK broadcaster BBC reported that a Panorama documentary exposed SAS war crimes in Afghanistan, noting that there was a clear pattern of unlawful killings of Afghans by a squadron of SAS commandos during night raids appears to have emerged, with as many as 54 victims over a six-month period.

BBC was able to identify some of the SAS raid locations and traveled to Afghanistan to speak with witnesses and collect forensic evidence, such as images of bullet holes in walls.

According to experts, what the news outlet discovered on the ground in three locations indicated that executions were carried out at close range, contradicting what the SAS team had reported about killing enemy combatants in firefights or retaliating with lethal force when detainees pulled concealed weapons during a search.