Donald Trump has paid tribute to the ‘great and very brave soldiers of the United Kingdom’ following his highly inflammatory comments about Nato allies who served and died in Afghanistan.
The US president provoked outrage earlier this week when he told Fox News that America had ‘never needed’ its Nato partners, adding that its allied troops had ‘stayed a little back’.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer described the remarks as ‘insulting and frankly appalling’, and raised the comments directly with Trump on Saturday.
In a social media post shortly after their conversation, the US president praised the ‘very brave’ UK soldiers in Afghanistan.
He wrote: ‘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 UK Military, with tremendous Heart and Soul, is second to none (except for the USA!).
‘We love you all, and always will!’
Speaking in Downing Street on Friday, Sir Keir had said he was ‘not surprised’ that Mr Trump’s remarks caused ‘such hurt to the loved ones of those who were killed or injured’.
The Duke of Sussex also weighed in on the comments and said the ‘sacrifices’ of British soldiers ‘deserve to be spoken about truthfully and with respect’.
Armed forces minister and former commando Al Carns, who served five tours in Afghanistan, described Mr Trump’s comments as ‘ridiculous’.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said Mr Trump’s comments were ‘complete nonsense’, adding that it is a ‘disgrace’ to ‘denigrate’ the memory of British soldiers who died in the conflict.
On Saturday, she posted on X that she is ‘pleased’ the president has ‘now acknowledged the role of the British armed forces and those brave men and women who gave their lives fighting alongside the US and our allies’.
She added: ‘It should never have been questioned in the first place.’
The UK suffered the second highest number of military deaths – 457 – in the Afghanistan conflict, behind the US, which saw 2,461 deaths.
In total, America’s allies suffered 1,160 deaths in the conflict, around a third of the total coalition deaths.
The mum of the most severely wounded British veteran to survive the conflict said Trump’s words were ‘the ultimate insult.’
Diane Dernie’s son Ben Parkinson, from Doncaster, was horrifically injured near Musa Qala in 2006 when the Army Land Rover struck a roadside mine.
The blast left him with both legs amputated, a twisted spine and brain damage.
Mrs Dernie urged Sir Keir Starmer to stand up to Trump and ‘call him out’ for ‘his own armed forces.’
She continued: ‘Come and look at us, the life that Ben leads – 19-and-a-half years on, still fighting for his care, still fighting for him to have a decent life, recovering from a recent operation.
‘To hear this man say “oh, well, you just fannied about behind the front lines”… It’s the ultimate insult.’
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said ‘how dare’ Mr Trump question the sacrifice of British soldiers and commented that the US president ‘avoided military service five times’.
Mr Trump has previously been criticised for avoiding being conscripted to fight in Vietnam thanks to being diagnosed with bone spurs in his heels – a claim that has been subject to doubt.
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