Back
in 2008 Britain’s third in line to the throne Prince Harry was serving in
Afghanistan. While in Afghanistan his tour was cut short due to threats made by
the Taliban to kill Prince Harry. Now in 2012 the Prince has been deployed on a
four-month tour to Camp Bastion in Afghanistan. The Taliban yet again made threats to abduct
the Prince, and if those attempts fail then they claimed they would kill him. A
member of the Taliban, Mr. Mujahid said, “We are using all our strength to get
rid of him, either by killing or kidnapping” (Threats
to Prince Harry). The Taliban has been very persistent with their demands.
In fact, they actually followed through with an offensive.
Just
last week on the anniversary of the September 11th attacks, the
Taliban members used rocket launchers and small arms in hopes to kill the
Prince. These Taliban members were able to break the perimeter through a hole
cut in the border fence protecting Camp Bastion. The Taliban members were
disguised as U.S. Army soldiers; fortunately their attack only inflicted
minimal danger on the Camp. To Prince Harry’s dismay he was off base on a
helicopter mission at the time of the offense. After the offensive was reported,
Prince Harry was immediately placed under special watch. Even though Prince
Harry came out unscathed, others were not so fortunate. The offensive put into
place by the Taliban was halted after three hours of conflict. However, these
three hours came at a price. An ISAF stated, “At least two U.S. Marines were
killed in the brazen strike late Friday, and six jets were destroyed” (Insurgents
Attack). These attacks by Taliban members have occurred in the past and are
going to continue into the future.
With these future attacks, many critics believe Prince
Harry’s presence does not help with the prevention of these attacks. Many
people believe that the Prince should be removed from the war zone, because he
is not just endangering his life but the lives of other man. Case in point the
insurgents attack on Camp Bastion.
The Taliban has been behind numerous attacks and will
continue to find ways for many more attacks as long as the Prince is directly
involved on the battlefield. Prince Harry is doing a great service and honor
towards his country but is it truly worth the risk? Will his current four-month
tour get cut short again, just like in 2008?
Bibliography
CNN. CNN. Cable News
Network, 11 Sept. 2012. Web. 19 Sept. 2012. <http://www.cnn.com/video/>.
CNN Wire Staff.
"Source: Insurgents Got onto Prince Harry's Base through Hole in
Fence." – CNN Security Clearance. N.p., 17 Sept. 2012.
Web. 18 Sept. 2012.
<http://security.blogs.cnn.com/2012/09/17/source-insurgents-got-onto-prince-harrys-base-through-hole-in-fence/?iref=allsearch>.
Rubin,
Alissa J. "Afghan Insurgents Attack Base Where Prince Harry Serves." The
New York Times. The New York Times, 15 Sept. 2012. Web. 18 Sept. 2012.
<http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/15/world/asia/afghan-insurgents-attack-base-where-prince-harry-serves.html?_r=0>.
This is an interesting post--well-written and organized, well-sourced etc. I wonder at your choice of subject though! There's nothing wrong with it, exactly, and it presents an interesting portrait of the Taliban's willingness to attack targets not for military advantage but for psychological impact. But with the exception of your second-to-last question, you don't really try to draw out what this incident has to do with the larger context. I'll be interested to see what you do with your next post!
ReplyDelete