British Prince Harry has "opened up about stress of his Afghanistan war service" as he visited ambulance crews in Waterloo, south London, according to the celebrity news magazine People.
"Prince Harry spoke about the mental health challenges he faced while serving in Afghanistan," the outlet said.
While recalling his days flying rescue helicopters on his second tour, he said:
"You land and then hand them over and then are radioed to do something else. You never find out how that guy or girl recovered, whether they did recover or they didn’t."
His royal highness also stressed the "importance of talking."
"I also believe if people in the green uniform aren’t coming forward and talking about it, people driving blue light vehicles in general aren’t talking about it, then the rest of us aren’t going to talk about it."
"We’re all human, we’re not machines, despite a lot of people in certain jobs having to think and behave like machines in order to get the best out of you – I accept that – but it’s not weakness, it’s strength to be able to come forward, deal with it, move on and be a better person," he added.
However the revelations of the British prince found no sympathy with Afghan parliamentarians and military experts.
All these hardships and moral shocks could have been easily avoided if the British contingent had not been sent to Afghanistan, Shekiba Hashemi, a deputy to Wolesi Jirga, the lower house of the Afghan parliament, also known as the National Assembly, told Sputnik.
"The direct interference of the UK into military and political system of Afghanistan is absolutely evident to everyone," she said.
"The British had infiltrated into our politics so deeply that they know almost everything about us. And we have to put up with it," she added.
He also demoralizes the Afghan security forces which undergo training under the leadership of British instructors, Shekiba Hashemi explained.
"Who knows, the war in Afghanistan could have been much shorter if the UK hadn't sent its troops to fight in our country. Then Prince Harry would have had no grounds to complain," she stated.
Meanwhile Moulavi Ahmadullah Moahed, also a deputy to Wolesi Jirga, noted to Sputnik that we shouldn't take Prince Harry's statements so seriously.
"First of all, we should not treat this seriously," he told Sputnik.
"Secondly, the involvement of the prince during the military operations in Afghanistan in due time was nothing but a PR stunt," he said.
Many people know for a fact that he didn't take part directly in any military operations, the deputy said. Unlike the Afghans who are risking their lives every year for the sake of peace in their country.
"The revelations of the prince only prove the UK's double standards towards Afghanistan. One the one hand, London is arming the Afghan army, on the other – is blaming it in its unwillingness and inability to fight, which is a lie," he told Sputnik.
"It is interference into the internal matters of our country and divulgence of our official secrets. By the way, Prince Harry knows only too well that the Afghan security forces are fighting against terrorists on our territory around the clock and are courageously performing their duty, and it is absolutely within the power of foreign contingents to cooperate with them," he finally stated.
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