Prince Harry's pal's scathing six-word verdict on Duke revealing Taliban 'kill count'

In his controversial memoir Spare, Prince Harry claimed he killed 25 Taliban fighters during his time serving in the Army in Afghanistan - and a pal who befriended the Duke while he was in the military has not held back when addressing Harry's claim

An Army pal of Prince Harry's has offered his verdict on the Duke's decision to reveal how many Taliban fighters he killed while serving in Afghanistan.

The Duke of Sussex, who served 10 years in the Army, went on two tours of duty in Afghanistan and in his second deployment in 2012, he was based at Camp Bastion after learning to fly Apache helicopters. When his controversial memoir Spare was released almost two years ago, Harry wrote in the book that during this deployment he killed 25 Taliban fighters, sparking a furious backlash from several high-profile military figures for diclosing this information.

And another former serviceman, who trained with Harry at Sandhurst Military Academy and served with him in Afghanistan in 2008, has also given his reaction to the Duke's claim. Levison Wood, who is now an explorer and author, told The Times: "I personally wouldn't have done that, but he's sold a lot more books than me, hasn't he?"

The former paratrooper also revealed that he had caught up with Harry at a recent charity event in London and remarked that the Duke was 'great'.

In Spare, Harry wrote that he flew on six missions that resulted in "the taking of human lives". He also disclosed that he did not think of the 25 that were killed as "people" but as "chess pieces" that were taken off the board. He said: "So, my number is 25. It's not a number that fills me with satisfaction, but nor does it embarrass me."

The claim sparked protests in Afghanistan but appearing on an American TV chat show in the days after the book was published, Harry defended his decision to share the detail, blaming critics for the "spin" on his words, adding that it had been "hurtful and challenging" watching the reactions following the book's publication.

Appearing on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, he said: "Without a doubt, the most dangerous lie that they have told, is that I somehow boasted about the number of people that I killed in Afghanistan," he told the show's host. "I would say that if I heard anybody else, anyone, boasting about that kind of thing, I would be angry. But it's a lie.

"And hopefully now that the book is out, people will be able to see the context, and it is – it's really troubling and very disturbing that they can get away with it." He added: "My words are not dangerous, but the spin of my words are very dangerous to my family."

Harry then revealed the reason behind disclosing the number of kills at war was in a bid to reduce veteran suicides.

He said: "I made a choice to share it because having spent nearly two decades working with veterans all around the world, I think the most important thing is to be honest and to give space to others to be able to share their experiences without any shame. And my whole goal, my attempt with sharing that detail, is to reduce the number of suicides."

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