Front Line Video: Harry’s Secret Afghan War Role Revealed
PRINCE Harry has been fighting in war-torn Afghanistan for the past 10 weeks on a deployment cloaked in secrecy, the Ministry of Defence confirmed last night.
The 23-year-old Household Cavalry officer, who was told he could not serve in Iraq last year, has been fighting the Taliban in Helmand Province since December.
The deployment had been the subject of a news blackout deal, which the Yorkshire Post observed, but the details were leaked yesterday by a US website.
Journalists had visited the Prince in Helmand on condition that details would only be publicised once he was safely back in the UK.
The news blackout deal was arranged after Harry’s planned tour in Iraq last year had to be cancelled for security reasons amid much publicity.
Military chiefs must now decide whether it is safe for the Prince’s deployment to continue, following speculation that he could be targeted by the Taliban.
An MoD spokesman said: “The operational chain of command is now looking at a variety of options.”
Chief of the General Staff Sir Richard Dannatt, who is head of the British Army, said he was disappointed the news had leaked.
“What the last two months have shown is that it is perfectly possible for Prince Harry to be employed just the same as other Army officers of his rank and experience,” Sir Richard added.
“His conduct on operations in Afghanistan has been exemplary. He has been fully involved in operations and has run the same risks as everyone else in his battlegroup.
“In common with all of his generation in the Army today, he is a credit to the nation.
“In deciding to deploy him to Afghanistan, it was my judgment that with an understanding with the media not to broadcast his whereabouts, the risk was manageable.
“Now that the story is in the public domain, the Chief of Defence Staff and I will take advice from the operational commanders about whether his deployment can continue.”
Harry has been serving as a battlefield air controller, known as a Joint Terminal Attack Controller, a role for which he trained in Yorkshire last summer.
While training at RAF Leeming, near Northallerton, he was taught to control aircraft operating over a battle space, ranging from fast jets carrying bombs or surveillance planes to regular troop transports and supply drops.
He flew to Afghanistan on December 14, two months into the current winter tour.
The Prince spent several weeks working in Garmsir in the far south of Helmand Province, operating just 500 metres from front- line Taliban positions.
He has since left to work in another part of Helmand, details of which can not be reported for security reasons.
Harry was due to complete a four-month tour without the standard two-week break that other soldiers enjoy.
He admitted just last week, in a media interview due to be reported on his safe return, that he could be a target for Taliban- supporting extremists in the UK on his return.
“Once this film comes out … probably every single person that supports them will be trying to slot me,” he said. “Now that you come to think about it, it’s quite worrying.”
He added: “I think… now … people will know I’m out here no doubt I’ll be a top target.”
In another interview, Harry said he hoped that he was making
his mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, proud by serving in Afghanistan.
He said he believed she was looking down on him, “having a giggle” when things went wrong.
He said his brother, Prince William, had sent him a letter saying how proud she would have been.
Inayat Bunglawala, from the Muslim Council of Britain, said that if Harry remained in Afghanistan his life could be in danger.
“If he is still there I am sure many Afghans opposed to the British presence in Afghanistan will see him as a high-value target,” he said.
“We wish both him and his colleagues in the Army are brought back from Afghanistan out of harm’s way.”
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