The Afghan Taliban vowed on Monday to do everything in their power to kidnap or assassinate Britain's Prince Harry, who has just begun serving a four-month tour of duty as a chopper pilot in Afghanistan.
Prince Harry, known as Captain Wales in the British Army, is stationed at Camp Bastion in Helmand province, where he will be on the front line in the NATO-led war against Taliban insurgents.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in an interview with Agence France Presse that the Taliban had a "high-value plan" to get the prince. "It is not important for us to kidnap him," he said. "We will target him and we will kill him."
ABC’s "Good Morning America" reported in February that the Taliban would make him a “priority” and that they vowed to capture him “dead or alive” if he returned to Afghanistan.
Harry served a tour of duty in Afghanistan in 2008, though it was cut short because of publicity. The 27-year-old son of Prince Charles and the late Princess Diana is third in line to the throne, after his father and his older brother William.
The British government has declined comment on the threats against Harry, but NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said he was not worried.
"That's not a matter of concern," said Rasmussen as a press conference in Brussels. "We do everything we can to protect all our troops deployed to Afghanistan, whatever might be their personal background."