Trump heaps praise on UK troops following furor over Afghanistan comments
Following an earlier meeting with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Trump said on Truth Social that “the great and very brave soldiers of the United Kingdom will always be with the United States of America.”
He described the 457 British soldiers and women killed and seriously injured in Afghanistan as “the greatest of all warriors”.
Trump added that the bond between the two countries’ militaries was “too strong to ever be broken” and that the United Kingdom was “unrivalled (other than the United States) with a tremendous heart and soul.”
Trump’s comments came after an interview with Fox Business Network in Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday, in which he said he wasn’t sure the other 31 countries in NATO would be there to support the United States if asked and that troops from those countries were “a little bit off the front line.”
Trump did not directly apologize for or retract those comments, as Starmer noted in his initial response on Friday, in which he called the president’s remarks “insulting and frankly appalling.”
Starmer’s office at 10 Downing Street said the issue was raised in a call between the pair on Saturday, where other issues were discussed, including the war in Ukraine and security in the Arctic region. “The Prime Minister stood up to the brave and heroic British and American soldiers fighting shoulder to shoulder in Afghanistan,” Downing Street said in a statement. “We must never forget their sacrifice.”
Trump’s view, expressed in the Fox Business interview, is at odds with the fact that in October 2001, about a month after the September 11 attacks, the United States led an international coalition in Afghanistan to destroy Al Qaeda, which used the country as a base, and the Taliban, which hosted the group.
In addition to the United States, there were troops from dozens of countries, including NATO, whose mutual defense authority was activated for the first time after the attacks on New York and Washington. More than 150,000 British soldiers served in Afghanistan in the years after the invasion; This was the largest contingent after the American military.
The Italian and French governments also expressed disapproval of Trump’s comments on Saturday, both calling them “unacceptable.”
