Prince Harry reveals why he spoke of how many enemies he killed in Afghanistan

Prince Harry has revealed why he felt the need to divulge how many enemies he killed while serving in Afghanistan.

Prince Harry completed two tours of Afghanistan. AFP PHOTO/SHAUN CURRY

Prince Harry has revealed why he felt the need to divulge how many enemies he killed while serving in Afghanistan.

In yet another promo for his new book, Spare, the Duke of Sussex said in a glossy US magazine cover story that he felt soldiers should discuss “parts of our service that haunt us”.

Harry was criticised by senior military figures for revealing his ‘kill count’ of 25 in his new memoir, while the Taliban accused the royal crime of committing war crimes after he referred to people he killed as “chess pieces”.

He has now told People magazine that he is open about his military service for my own healing journey” and “in the hopes it will help others”.

Prince Harry completed two tours of Afghanistan. AFP PHOTO/SHAUN CURRY

“I know from my own healing journey that silence has been the least effective remedy,” he told the magazine.

“Expressing and detailing my experience is how I chose to deal with it, in the hopes it would help others.”

He continued: “This is something each soldier has to confront, and in the nearly two decades of working alongside service personnel and veterans, I’ve listened to their stories and have shared mine.

“In these conversations, we often talk about the parts of our service that haunt us — the lives lost, the lives taken. But also the parts of our service that heal us and the lives we’ve saved.

“It’s a duty, a job, and a service to our country — and having done two tours of duty in Afghanistan for my country, I’ve done all I could to be the best soldier I was trained to be.

“There’s truly no right or wrong way to try and navigate these feelings.”

Harry sits in the front seat of his cockpit of an Apache helicopter at Camp Bastion in Afghanistan. (Photo by John Stillwell - WPA Pool/Getty Images)

Harry copped a barrage of criticism days ago for revealing the number of people he believes he killed while serving in Afghanistan.

“In the era of Apaches and laptops (he was able to say) with exactness how many enemy combatants I had killed. And it seemed to me essential not to be afraid of that number,” Harry writes in the memoir.

“So my number is 25. It’s not a number that fills me with satisfaction, but nor does it embarrass me.”

Harry’s time in the military included two deployments to Afghanistan. During the second deployment from 2012-13, he flew on six missions that resulted in deaths for the Taliban.

The 38-year-old royal said he is neither proud nor ashamed of “taking human lives” as it was simply his job as a soldier.

The Duke’s controversial revelation has met with criticism.

British MP Adam Holloway, a former army officer, said that in all his interactions with professional soldiers he’d never heard “anybody talk publicly about how many people they’ve killed”.

“They just don’t think it is appropriate to publicise the kill count, never mind whether it is satisfying or embarrassing to them or whatever. It’s not about macho codes. It’s about decency and respect for the lives you have taken,” he wrote in the Spectator.

Prince Harry on patrol in Helmand Province

“Even if Harry did feel some righteousness in fighting, that’s still no reason to publicise his kills.

“I remember one heavily decorated SAS warrant officer friend telling me that when someone asked him how many people he had killed he would always respond: ‘That’s a bit like asking a woman how many men she’s slept with.’ That may be a somewhat sexist remark, since it’s equally grubby for a man to talk about his sex life - something which, funnily enough, Harry looks set to do in this tell-far-too-much memoir.

“Harry is exhibiting, in such cringe-inducing style, the precise opposite of what his grandmother exemplified: dignity, restraint, and an ability to not parade his emotions ... is there any confidence he will not break?”

Former Royal Marine Ben McBean took aim at Harry. While he tweeted that he loved the Prince, Mr McBean said he needed to “shut up”.

“Love you #PrinceHarry but you need to shut up! Makes you wonder the people he’s hanging around with. If it was good people somebody by now would have told him to stop,” he wrote.

Major General Chip Chapman told UK radio station Times Radio that it was “naively stupid” for Harry, his publisher and ghost-writer to have published details of his kills in Afghanistan.

“Harry is not serving but those things are still sensitive,” Major General Chapman said.

“And for him, who wants privacy and security, he’s just opened himself up to every jihadist and nutcase out there.”

Originally published as Prince Harry reveals why he spoke of how many enemies he killed in Afghanistan