US president Donald Trump on Saturday praised “brave” British soldiers as warriors, a day after British Prime Minister Keir Starmer described his earlier remarks about NATO troops in Afghanistan as “insulting and appalling.”“The GREAT and very BRAVE soldiers of the United Kingdom will always be with the United States of America! In Afghanistan, 457 died, many were badly injured, and they were among the greatest of all warriors. It’s a bond too strong to ever be broken. The U.K. Military, with tremendous Heart and Soul, is second to none (except for the USA!). We love you all, and always will!” Trump said through a post on Truth Social.
Trump had earlier downplayed the role of some Nato allies in Afghanistan, suggesting they stayed away from frontline fighting, and reiterated his scepticism about Nato’s collective defence, saying he was unsure the alliance would come to the United States’ aid in a crisis.“They’ll say they sent some troops to Afghanistan,” Trump had said in an interview with Fox News adding, “And they did, they stayed a little back, a little off the front lines.”Trump’s remarks sparked widespread anger in Britain and across Europe, prompting UK’s prime minister Keir Starmer to hit back at Trump, calling the comments “insulting and frankly, appalling.”In a video message, he said: “Let me start by paying tribute to 457 of our armed services who lost their lives in Afghanistan.” “There are many also who were injured, some with life-changing injuries, and so I consider President Trump’s remarks to be insulting and frankly, appalling, and I’m not surprised they’ve caused such hurt to the loved ones of those who were killed or injured.”Starmer added that if he had misspoken in such a way, he “would certainly apologise”.Nato’s Article 5 collective defence clause, the alliance’s core principle, was invoked for the first and only time after the September 11 attacks, triggering European forces to join the US-led war.Britain lost 457 service personnel in Afghanistan, its deadliest overseas conflict since the 1950s. During some of the war’s most intense years, British forces led the allied campaign in Helmand, Afghanistan’s largest and most volatile province, while also serving as the United States’ principal battlefield ally in Iraq, as cited by Reuters.
