Prince Harry, the
Duke of Sussex who served the British military for 10 years including in two
tours in Afghanistan, has called upon military veterans returning from the
war-torn country to “reach out to each other and offer support for one another”.

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Afghanistan has
been in turmoil for days after the US and its NATO allies decided to withdraw
troops from the ground. All foreign troops in Afghanistan are expected to be
withdrawn by September 11. The removal of foreign troops has allowed the
ultra-conservative and militant Taliban to oust the civilian government and
take over Afghanistan.

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Prince Harry, in a
joint statement posted on Invictus Games Twitter account, urged everybody
across the Invictus network — and the wider military community — “to reach out
to each other and offer support for one other”.

The statement,
signed on by Prince Harry, CEO of Invictus Games Foundation Dominic Reid and
Lord Allen of Kensington, reads, “What’s happening in Afghanistan resonates
across the international Invictus community”.

“Many of the participating
nations and competitors in the Invictus Games family are bound by a shared
experience of serving in Afghanistan over the past two decades, and for several
years, we have competed alongside Invictus Games Team Afghanistan.”

The Invictus Games
are an international adaptive sport competition for soldiers wounded at war and
veterans. The Games were founded by Prince Harry after he saw a similar Warrior
Games competition in the US.

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The next Invictus
Games will be held in 2022.

Meanwhile, the UK
government currently has around 600 troops in Kabul. Nearly 200 more are set to
go to Kabul to evacuate British citizens from the war-torn country upended by
Taliban seizing power by ousting the western-backed government.

Prince Harry had
undertaken two operational tours of Afghanistan, the first time as a Forward
Air Controller in 2007–08 as an Apache Pilot between September 2012 and January
2013.