Taliban Tell Prince Harry That War Is Not Like A Video Game [UPDATE]

Is war like a video game? Prince Harry of Wales thinks so. Earlier today, The Telegraph reported that Prince Harry compared piloting an Apache to playing a video game.

https://lastchance.cc/prince-harry-thrashed-fellow-troops-at-fifa-while-in-5977918%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E

“It’s a joy for me because I’m one of those people who loves playing PlayStation and Xbox, so with my thumbs I like to think I’m probably quite useful,” Prince Harry stated.

The Taliban, an Islamic extremist political movement famed for their association with terrorist organizations, weren’t amused by the comparison judging by their response:

“This statement is not even worth condemning. It is worse than that,” Zabihullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, told London’s Telegraph. “To describe the war in Afghanistan as a game demeans anyone—especially a prince, who is supposed to be made of better things.”

“It’s not a game. It’s very, very real,” the Taliban declared.

It should be noted that video games have been used for both military recruitment and training, but that doesn’t really make Harry’s statements less insensitive and possibly damaging when it comes to the relations between soldiers and Afghan locals.

https://lastchance.cc/these-real-soldiers-are-being-trained-on-amazing-video-5941214%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E

UPDATE: Many commenters have criticized this article, saying that it overreaches in treating the Prince’s comments as anything more than comparing the commandeering of a vehicle to the use of a game controller. I see a valid difference of opinion. It was and is reasonable to raise an eyebrow at the Prince’s description of the “joy” of controlling a vehicle of war with the help of skills gleaned from playing games. It nevertheless is a notion we could have presented more deftly. The lede has been altered and my headline for the piece (not Patricia’s) has been changed. For the record, the old one was “Prince Harry, Taliban Argue About Whether War Is Like A Video Game” —Stephen Totilo, Editor-in-Chief

Prince Harry ‘driving wedge between forces and Afghan locals’ [The Telegraph]

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