Claims about Harry 'are ridiculous'

A senior insurgent's claims that Prince Harry kills innocent Afghans "while he is drunk" are nothing more than a "see-through attempt" to undermine progress in Afghanistan, military sources have said.

Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, founder and leader of the country's Hizb-i-Islamia Party, also claimed that foreign forces in Afghanistan have failed.

Hekmatyar, who was designated a terrorist by the US State Department in February 2003, said: "Britain dragged herself into this unjustified, useless but cruel conflict to please the White House.

"The British did not gain anything, instead they lost blood and treasure. They never had a positive role in Afghan affairs and they will not have any significance after 2014.

"I don't understand how the British public accept their children being sent to certain death in order to please American generals."

Of Harry, who is currently serving in Afghanistan as an Apache helicopter co-pilot gunner, he said: "The British prince comes to Afghanistan to kill innocent Afghans while he is drunk. He wants to hunt down Mujahideen with his helicopter's rockets, without any shame.

"During the Mujahideen's attack on the American base the prince saw that he was the one about to be hunted and was searching for a hole in which to hide himself."

But a military source dismissed his claims, saying: "The idea that highly skilled and professional Apache pilots operate drunk is patently ridiculous and completely made up.

"It is nothing more than a see-through attempt to undermine the very real progress being made in Afghanistan by UK troops and their Afghan partners."

The comments made by Hekmatyar, a former prime minister of Afghanistan, come just weeks after David Cameron signalled that British troops could be withdrawn from Afghanistan even faster after better-than-expected progress by the country's own security forces.

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-defence(Ministry of Defence)