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Prince Harry shared a message for fellow veterans on Monday amid the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan. The Duke of Sussex—who founded the Invictus Games for wounded, injured and sick servicemen and women, both serving and veterans—said in a joint statement with Invictus Games Foundation CEO Dominic Reid and Chair Lord Allen of Kensington that “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 statement continued. “We encourage everybody across the Invictus network—and the wider military community—to reach out to each other and offer support for one another.”
Harry founded the games, which first took place in 2014, to “harness the power of sport to inspire recovery, support rehabilitation and generate a wider understanding and respect for those who serve their country.” The Duke, who spent ten years working in the Armed Forces, undertook two tours of Afghanistan with the British Army.
Earlier this year, in his and Oprah Winfrey’s Apple TV+ docuseries, The Me You Can’t See, Harry admitted, “The happiest times in my life was the 10 years in the army. Without question.”
“Because I got to wear the same uniform as everybody else. I had to do all the same training as everybody else. I started from the bottom like everybody else,” the Duke explained. Harry shared that he received no special treatment because of who he is. Queen Elizabeth’s grandson said, “That was where I felt my most normal and actually within my younger years, the most comfortable I felt was out in Afghanistan, away from the media.”