Prince Harry slammed by ex-Marine Penn Farthing over Taliban kill count and says he’s fled Kabul for fear of reprisals
EX-MARINE Pen Farthing says he has had to evacuate Kabul as a result of Prince Harry’s explosive claims that he killed 25 Taliban soldiers during his combat tours.
Farthing, 53, who charted the infamous evacuation flight of dogs and cats from Kabul in August 2021, has slammed the royal’s new memoir Spare as “badly judged”.
The veteran reported on Friday that he has been forced to leave Kabul, abandoning his work with animal shelters, due to the “potential reprisal attacks on ex-forces people like me.”
Farthing had earlier tweeted in fury: “Well I was a Royalist until today…Cheers #PrinceHarry. You have been very badly advised I would probably say.
“And glad you thought through the security implications of those of us still out in #Afghanistan trying to bring about some good. #idiot #notmyprince”.
His anger was not without cause as he later explained in a tweet: “I have had to evac from #Kabul tonight”.
read more on Prince Harry's revelations in Spare
The animals advocate has been receiving support online for his comments decrying Harry's revelations, with users flooding to his defence.
One user wrote: “Heart breaking”, whilst another said: “I am so sorry, Pen. So Sorry. What should we be doing? Who should we be calling?”
On the other side of the storm, Harry’s kill count claims have garnered uproar across UK army officials and former senior military figures.
Retired army officer Colonel Richard Kemp has accused the so-called “spare heir” of betraying the army and his comrades.
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The former commander of British troops in Afghanistan warned that Harry’s statements had exposed new threats to the safety of himself and the Duchess of Sussex, as well as the Armed Forces.
He said: “It undermines his personal security. He has shot himself in the foot.”
During his two deployments of Afghanistan as an Apache helicopter pilot, the prince admitted to killing 25 Taliban soldiers, adding that he did not feel like they were real “people”.
His use of the bizarrely callous term “chess pieces removed from the board” to describe his killing of the insurgents has also enraged Taliban officials.
Anas Haqqani, a Taliban official, responded online: “Mr Harry! The ones you killed were not chess pieces, they were humans…these atrocities will be remembered in the history of humanity.”
Haqqani also stated the younger prince’s claims are admissions of “war crimes”, arguing he should be tried under an “international court”.
Pen Farthing’s work with Operation Ark, which has been helping to rescue animals from shelters for the last 18 months, appears to now be on hold.
"The animals suffer not me," he told followers online.
