Prince Harry could demand a security boost from the US after boasting about killing Taliban militants, says a former CIA official

PRINCE Harry could turn to US authorities for extra reassurance after boasting about killing 25 Taliban militants while serving in Afghanistan.

The Duke of Sussex, 38, was widely tipped to make the startling comments in his new memoir Spare, with some saying they put him at greater risk of attack.

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Now, former longtime CIA counter-terrorism officer Bruce Riedel has told The US Sun that Harry may be able to apply for official protection in America if he has major concerns about his safety.

Mr Riedel, who spent 30 years at the CIA and is now a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution think tank, said: “Harry, as a distinguished foreign guest, can make the case for security protections.

“Some ambassadors enjoy special protection. It would help if the UK government intervened.

“He took a risk in his statement about the killing of 25 Taliban, but it’s not a big risk.

“The Taliban have no international reach, and certainly not in the United States.

“In twenty years of war with America, they have never operated in the United States.

“An angry Afghan American acting alone could pose a threat, but most of the Afghan American community opposes the Taliban.”

Harry’s security arrangements have been controversial since he and his wife Meghan, now 41, decided to retire as working royals and leave the UK in 2020.

Harry has said the royal family cut money for his security protection in the first quarter of 2020 and that he used his inheritance from his mother Diana instead.

The couple first went to Canada, where the Royal Canadian Mounted Police were obliged to provide them with security as they were still recognized as internationally protected persons until they ceased to be active royals on March 31 this year.

When Harry, Meghan and their young son Archie moved to California in March, then-President Donald Trump commented that the US government would not pay for their security.

The Sussexes responded that they “had no plans to ask the US government for security resources” at the time.

Elite private security firm Gavin de Becker and Associated was hired to provide security for the couple.

Last year, Harry was allowed to lodge a challenge in the UK High Court against the country’s Home Office and London’s Metropolitan Police over his safety in the UK.

He wants a review of the decision not to allow him to pay for police protection for himself and his family while he is visiting from the US.

In November last year, outgoing Metropolitan Police Deputy Commissioner Neil Basu said Meghan had faced multiple “disgusting” threats to her life in the UK.

When asked if they were credible, Basu told Channel 4 News: “Absolutely, and if you’d seen the stuff written and received it… the kind of rhetoric that’s online if you don’t know what I mean.” know she would make me feel threatened all the time.”

He added: “We had teams investigating it. People have been prosecuted for these threats.”

The US Sun previously reported how retired military officer Colonel Richard Kemp said Harry’s comments in the memoir betrayed comrades he fought with and that he blasted the prince for saying he didn’t kill his Taliban victims see people.

He said: “He is proposing that the British Army train people, including himself, not to see the enemy as people, which is very far from the truth.

“The army is very careful to distinguish between innocent civilians and combatants on the battlefield.”

Colonel Tim Collins, known for speaking before the fight in Iraq, said Harry’s behavior was “not how we behave in the army”.

He told Forces News: “Harry has now turned against the other family, the military who once embraced him after destroying his birth family.

“Among his claims is the claim that he killed 25 people in Afghanistan.

“That’s not how you behave in the army, that’s not how we think.

“He dropped the side a lot. We don’t score the rifle butt. We never did.”

Harry’s memoir, Spare, has broken records and is the fastest-selling non-fiction book of all time, selling over 1.4 million English-language copies in all formats since its release on January 10.

He served in the British Army for 10 years, rose to the rank of Captain and served on two tours in Afghanistan.

In the book, Harry revealed that he knew exactly how many enemy combatants he had killed and felt it was important not to shy away from the number.

He wrote: “So, my number: twenty-five. It wasn’t a number that satisfied me.

“But it wasn’t a number I was ashamed of, either.

“Of course I would have preferred not to have that number on my military résumé, but for the same reason I would have preferred to live in a world where there are no Taliban, a world without war.”

The US Sun has reached out to the Sussexes for comment.