Prince Harry Urges Veterans to Support Each Other Amid Photos of Thousands of Afghans Trying to Flee
01:35 GMT 17.08.2021 (Updated: 15:15 GMT 28.05.2023)
© AP Photo / Kirsty Wigglesworth
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The Duke of Sussex was speaking in his capacity as founder of the Invictus Games Foundation for injured veterans, having spent ten years in the British Army himself and serving two frontline deployments to Afghanistan during the two-decade operation.
Prince Harry said in a joint statement on Monday that he and other Afghanistan War veterans are "bound by a shared experience" and that the horrific pictures from Kabul "resonate" with them, urging former soldiers to "offer support for one another."
"What's happening in Afghanistan resonates across the international Invictus community," the duke and senior executives from the Games stated amid footage of thousands of Afghans trying to flee the collapsed country after the Taliban* reportedly conquered the capital city of Kabul.
This picture taken on November 3, 2012 shows Britain's Prince Harry playing a game of Uckers in the VHR (very high ready-ness) tent with fellow pilots at Camp Bastion in Afghanistan's Helmand province.
© AFP 2023 / JOHN STILLWELL
The prince and his fellow colleagues stated that "many of the participating nations and competitors in the Invictus Games family are bound by a shared experience of serving in Afghanistan over the past two decades, and for several years, we have competed alongside Invictus Games Team Afghanistan."
"We encourage everybody across the Invictus network - and the wider military community - to reach out to each other and offer support for one another," Prince Harry's statement concluded.
On behalf of the @weareinvictus community on the unfolding events in Afghanistan: pic.twitter.com/djvQnWxekP
— Invictus Games Foundation 💛🖤 (@WeAreInvictus) August 16, 2021
According to the latest reports, after at least eight people were killed on Monday in the area of Kabul airport, including two shot by US troops, three who were run over by taxiing jets, and three stowaways who dropped from the engines of an airborne plane, the flights for evacuation were resumed.
The events in the war-torn nation's capital city are unfolding following the Taliban's takeover of Kabul and most parts of Afghanistan last week, thousands of Afghans rushed to Hamid Karzai International Airport as the US, the UK, and other allies sent military planes to evacuate their residents and diplomats out of the country.
Earlier in the day, the German media reported that the first out of four Bundeswehr transport military planes had finally landed in Kabul after circling above the city for about five hours. The landing of the plane, according to the report, was impossible due to the huge crowd of people blocking the runway.
Joe Biden defended the US pullout and handling of the subsequent crisis in an address to the nation on Monday, blaming former President Donald Trump's agreement with the Taliban, as well as Afghanistan's political leaders for refusing to talk, and Afghan military forces for refusing to fight.
He practically reiterated Saturday's accusations against his predecessor for creating the conditions for the Taliban takeover. However, it is Biden whose handling of the Afghanistan situation on a national and international level has been heavily criticized.
*Taliban, a terrorist group banned in Russia and a number of other countries
