BRITAIN:Britain's Prince Harry, who yesterday returned from Afghanistan after international media broke a news blackout on his presence, said he wants to return to active service.
"If you're not there and someone from your regiment, or a mate of yours, if something were to happen to them, realistically you would feel indirectly guilty," the 23-year- old prince told the BBC in a televised interview.
When asked if his fighting days with the British army were over, he replied: "I hope not."
The prince trained as a lieutenant in a division of the Household Cavalry known as the Blues and Royals. He later trained as a battlefield air controller.
He spent the last 10 weeks serving in the southern province of Helmand with British forces.
His tour was brought to an early halt on February 28th after the US-based Drudge Report website reported his presence, citing Australia's New Idea magazine and German daily newspaper Bild.
That prompted other media outlets to break their self-imposed embargo.
Once the news broke, military chiefs judged Prince Harry had to come home. "His presence in theatre would have had a significant effect on what the opposition did," Jock Stirrup, the chief of Britain's defence staff, told Sky News.
"It's understandable he should want to stay. My concern had to be for the wider operation. I'm not going to speculate on anybody's future deployment."
The prince said he was surprised the news blackout held as long as it did, and said he should be allowed to return to Afghanistan given the two-month success in keeping his whereabouts a secret. "The system can work; I don't see why it can't work again. Hopefully for my brother as well."
Harry's older brother, Prince William, second in line to the throne, is also in the military and is training as a pilot.
There are about 7,700 British troops currently serving in Afghanistan, where 89 military personnel have died in the conflict since 2001.