Afghans call for Prince Harry to be ‘put on trial’ after ‘proudly’ admitting to ‘killing 25 Taliban’

Published

3 years ago

January 9, 2023

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Afghans have called for Prince Harry to face prosecution for the deaths of the people he admitted killing during his time fighting in the country for the UK military.

In his highly anticipated book, Spare, Harry reveals he killed 25 fighters and says he did not think of them as “people”, but instead as “chess pieces” that had been taken off the board.

The Duke of Sussex carried out two tours in Afghanistan during his time in the military, including one tour between 2012 and 2013 during which he served as an Apache attack helicopter co-pilot gunner.

The relative of a victim of a 2011 airstrike said to have been carried out by British forces, Mullah Abdullah, was among those saying Harry should be put on trial.

He said he lost nine relatives when his house was hit by an airstrike while he was at the market in the village of Yakhchal in Nahr-E-Saraj district.

He told the AP news agency from the graveside of his dead father, who was among those killed: “We ask the international community to put this person (Prince Harry) on trial, and we should get compensation for our losses.

“We lost our house, our life, and family members, we lost our livelihood and also our loved ones.”

Tory MP Tobias Ellwood suggested the prince’s admission could create security risks for the Invictus Games.

Mr Ellwood, a senior backbencher and chairman of the Commons Defence Committee, said the revelation in Harry’s memoir was “ill-advised”.

“I do worry that this is going to have security implications,” Mr Ellwood told Sky News.

Speaking about the Invictus Games, he said: “One of the rare occasions that I worked with Prince Harry was in the Invictus Games in Sydney and in Toronto and so forth. Incredible effort. This was his design, this was his creation.

“And I’m now concerned that something which has been so important to veterans to help rehabilitation will now suffer because there could be security implications of him participating in that.”

Agroup of Taliban officials in Helmand province, where British forces were based between 2006 and 2014, echoed the calls for the duke to be tried, as a group of protesters gathered in the provincial capital Lashkar Gah.

Hameedullah Hameedi, a member of the provincial council in Helmand, told Sky News: “If Harry considered himself a member of a civilised world, this is a shame for him to say that (he killed 25 people).

“And it is an even bigger shame for him to talk about it proudly, like an illiterate person of a poor society with no knowledge and no education.

“We are not only demanding that he be prosecuted in the international court, but also demanding the international community punish him as soon as possible.”

He continued: “It will definitely have an impact on British-Afghan relations because people are aware that it is a British officer belonging to the Royal Family – Prince Harry – who martyred 25 Afghans and has committed such crimes.”

Samiullah Sayed, deputy director of education in Helmand, added: “As the prince has admitted, he has martyred 25 people. Not only Harry but all the others who invaded Afghanistan have committed the same crimes.

“As an independent nation, we will never ever forget the brutality, savagery and their cruelty that they performed against our nation and our people.”

Posters held up by some of the protesters featured pictures of Harry with a red cross through them.

Harry writes in the book that the killings of the 25 Afghans “was not something that filled me with satisfaction, but I was not ashamed either”.

Various members of the British military have taken exception to the duke going public with the number he killed.

Retired Royal Navy officer rear admiral Chris Parry told Sky News that in 35 years of service, including in combat, he had never heard a colleague “say what their score is”.

“I’m afraid to say it’s clumsy, tasteless and does not afford respect to the people who have been killed,” he said.

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Former senior army officer Colonel Richard Kemp said he thought Harry’s comments were “ill-judged” and could incite an attack on British soldiers.

Sky’s international affairs editor Dominic Waghorn said Harry’s describing what he did “so dispassionately is a propaganda and recruitment godsend to the country’s enemies, something borne out by the reaction on Taliban and other extremist social media”.

But retired former senior intelligence officer Philip Ingram said he recognised in Harry the signs of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and said he needed to be protected, rather than criticised further.

World

Donald Trump sending ‘top of the line’ weapons to support NATO in Ukraine war

Published

7 hours ago

July 15, 2025

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Donald Trump sending 'top of the line' weapons to support NATO in Ukraine war

Donald Trump has agreed to send “top of the line weapons” to NATO to support Ukraine – and threatened Russia with “severe” tariffs if it doesn’t agree to end the war.

Speaking with NATO secretary-general Mark Rutte during a meeting at the White House, the US president said: “We’ve made a deal today where we are going to be sending them weapons, and they’re going to be paying for them.

“This is billions of dollars worth of military equipment which is going to be purchased from the United States, going to NATO, and that’s going to be quickly distributed to the battlefield.”

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It comes as Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he had a “very good conversation” with Mr Trump late on Monday. He thanked him for the “willingness to support Ukraine and to continue working together to stop the killings”.

Weapons being sent from to Ukraine include surface-to-air Patriot missile systems and batteries, which the country has asked for to defend itself from Russian air strikes.

Mr Trump also said he was “very unhappy” with Russia, and threatened “severe tariffs” of “about 100%” if there isn’t a deal to end the war in Ukraine within 50 days.

The White House added that the US would put “secondary sanctions” on countries that buy oil from Russia if an agreement was not reached.

Mr Zelenskyy previously criticised Vladimir Putin’s “desire to drag [the war] out”, and said Kyiv was “working on major defence agreements with America”.

It comes after weeks of frustration from Mr Trump over Mr Putin’s refusal to agree to an end to the conflict, with the Russian leader telling the US president he would “not back down” from Moscow’s goals in Ukraine at the start of the month.

During the briefing on Monday, Mr Trump said he had held calls with Mr Putin where he would think “that was a nice phone call”, but then “missiles are launched into Kyiv or some other city, and that happens three or four times”.

“I don’t want to say he’s an assassin, but he’s a tough guy,” he added.

Earlier this year, Mr Trump told Mr Zelenskyy “you’re gambling with World War Three” in a fiery White House meeting, and suggested Ukraine started the war against Russia as he sought to negotiate an end to the conflict.

After Mr Trump’s briefing, Russian senator Konstantin Kosachev said on Telegram: “If this is all that Trump had in mind to say about Ukraine today, then all the steam has gone out.”

Meanwhile, Mr Zelenskyy met with US special envoy Keith Kellogg in Kyiv, where they “discussed the path to peace” by “strengthening Ukraine’s air defence, joint production, and procurement of defence weapons in collaboration with Europe”.

He thanked both the envoy for the visit and Mr Trump “for the important signals of support and the positive decisions for both our countries”.

World

Trump announces weapons deal with NATO to help Ukraine – as he gives Putin 50-day ultimatum

Published

21 hours ago

July 14, 2025

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Trump announces weapons deal with NATO to help Ukraine - as he gives Putin 50-day ultimatum

Donald Trump has agreed to send “top of the line weapons” to NATO to support Ukraine – and threatened Russia with “severe” tariffs if it doesn’t agree to end the war.

Speaking with NATO secretary general Mark Rutte during a meeting at the White House, the US president said: “We’ve made a deal today where we are going to be sending them weapons, and they’re going to be paying for them.

“This is billions of dollars worth of military equipment which is going to be purchased from the United States,” he added, “going to NATO, and that’s going to be quickly distributed to the battlefield.”

Follow the latest here

Weapons being sent include surface-to-air Patriot missile systems and batteries, which Ukraine has asked for to defend itself from Russian air strikes.

Mr Trump also said he was “very unhappy” with Russia, and threatened “severe tariffs” of “about 100%” if there isn’t a deal to end the war in Ukraine within 50 days.

The White House added that the US would put “secondary sanctions” on countries that buy oil from Russia if an agreement was not reached.

It comes after weeks of frustration from Mr Trump against Vladimir Putin’s refusal to agree to an end to the conflict, with the Russian leader telling the US president he would “not back down” from Moscow’s goals in Ukraine at the start of the month.

During the briefing on Monday, Mr Trump said he had held calls with Mr Putin where he would think “that was a nice phone call,” but then “missiles are launched into Kyiv or some other city, and that happens three or four times”.

“I don’t want to say he’s an assassin, but he’s a tough guy,” he added.

Earlier this year, Mr Trump told Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy “you’re gambling with World War Three” in a fiery White House meeting, and suggested Ukraine started the war against Russia as he sought to negotiate an end to the conflict.

After Mr Trump’s briefing, Russian senator Konstantin Kosachev said on Telegram: “If this is all that Trump had in mind to say about Ukraine today, then all the steam has gone out.”

He thanked both the envoy for the visit and Mr Trump “for the important signals of support and the positive decisions for both our countries”.

World

At least 30 dead and 100 injured as armed groups clash in Syria, officials say

Published

1 day ago

July 14, 2025

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At least 30 dead and 100 injured as armed groups clash in Syria, officials say

At least 30 people have been killed in the Syrian city of Sweida in clashes between local military groups and tribes, according to Syria’s interior ministry.

Officials say initial figures suggest around 100 people have also been injured in the city, where the Druze faith is one of the major religious groups.

The interior ministry said its forces will directly intervene to resolve the conflict, which the Reuters news agency said involved fighting between Druze gunmen and Bedouin Sunni tribes.

It marks the latest episode of sectarian violence in Syria, where fears among minority groups have increased since Islamist-led rebels toppled President Bashar al Assad in December, installing their own government and security forces.

The violence reportedly erupted after a wave of kidnappings, including the abduction of a Druze merchant on Friday on the highway linking Damascus to Sweida.

Last April, Sunni militia clashed with armed Druze residents of Jaramana, southeast of Damascus, and fighting later spread to another district near the capital.

But this is the first time the fighting has been reported inside the city of Sweida itself, the provincial capital of the mostly Druze province.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reports the fighting was centred in the Maqwas neighbourhood east of Sweida and villages on the western and northern outskirts of the city.

It adds that Syria’s Ministry of Defence has deployed military convoys to the area.

Western nations, including the US and UK, have been increasingly moving towards normalising relations with Syria.

Concerns among minority groups have intensified following the killing of hundreds of Alawites in March, in apparent retaliation for an earlier attack carried out by Assad loyalists.

That was the deadliest sectarian flare-up in years in Syria, where a 14-year civil war ended with Assad fleeing to Russia after his government was overthrown by rebel forces.

The city of Sweida is in southern Syria, about 24 miles (38km) north of the border with Jordan.