Prince Harry Pulled from Afghanistan

Prince Harry was moved out of Afghanistan immediately Friday morning because of fears for his safety after news of his deployment became public. The 23-year-old Household Cavalry officer had been fighting the Taliban in Helmand Province for 10 weeks. The prince, third in line to the British throne, has been in Afghanistan since December, but an agreement between the British media and the Ministry of Defense to keep his involvement silent collapsed when websites in Australia, Germany, and the States leaked the news early Friday.

The prince holds the rank of cornet, which is equivalent to a second lieutenant, and serves as forward air controller with a group called Joint Tactical Air Control, or JTAC. His duties included calling in air-strikes and air support when necessary, guaranteeing the accuracy of bombing on the ground, and guarding against incidents of friendly fire.

Harry was not originally due back for another few weeks. Since Harry's arrival in mid-December, his battle group has been responsible for around 30 enemy deaths, a Ministry of Defense official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information.

Details of the deployment only became widely known when they were reported by the Drudge Report, a United States website. The military shortly thereafter confirmed his assignment. The decision to withdraw him was that the "worldwide media coverage of Prince Henry in Afghanistan could impact on the security of those who are deployed there, as well as risks to him as an individual soldier." (MoD statement, CNN)

The news blackout agreement lasted 2 1/2 months and raised a number of questions from news readers. Some believe this could be damaging to the media's credibility. Some wondered whether people would be able to trust media sources again. There was only one British national newspaper that did not put the story on its front page was The Independent. "We don't share our rival's incredible fascination with every aspect of the royal family's lives. The most interesting aspect about all this is the breaking of the media embargo by Drudge, but we decided that in itself wasn't big enough to warrant the front page." (Deputy editor-in-chief Ian Birrell, Reuters)

Harry is the first royal to serve in a combat zone since his uncle Prince Andrew flew helicopters during Britain's war with Argentina over the Falkland Islands in 1982. Harry trained at Sandhurst military academy and joined the Blues and Royals as a cornet. The news of his Afghan assignment was delivered by his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II.

General Richard Dannatt, chief of Britain's General Staff spoke only good things about Harry's involvement with the troops in Afghanistan. "His conduct on operations in Afghanistan have been exemplary. He has been fully involved in operations and has run the same risks as everyone else in his battle group. In common with all of his generation in the army today, he is a credit to the nation." (CNN)

In a recent interview Prince Harry was positive about his experience with the troops. "It's bizarre. I'm out here now, haven't really had a shower for four days, haven't washed my clothes for a week and everything seems completely normal... It's nice just to be here with all the guys and just mucking in as one of the lads." (Chicago Sun Times)