Trump praises UK troops as brave warriors after widespread condemnation

LONDON: U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday praised “brave” British soldiers, calling them warriors, a day after remarks he made about NATO troops in Afghanistan were described as “insulting and appalling” by Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

Trump provoked widespread anger in Britain and across Europe after he said European troops had stayed off the front lines in Afghanistan.

Britain lost 457 service personnel killed in Afghanistan, its deadliest overseas war since the 1950s. For several of the war’s most intense years it led the allied campaign in Helmand, Afghanistan’s biggest and most violent province, while also fighting as the main U.S. battlefield ally in Iraq.

READ MORE: Outrage after Trump claims NATO troops avoided Afghan front line

“The GREAT and very BRAVE soldiers of the United Kingdom will always be with the United States of America!” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “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.”

Trump’s initial comments had provoked an unusually strong reaction from Starmer who has tended to avoid direct criticism of Trump in public.

The British leader’s office issued a statement to say the prime minister had spoken to the president on Saturday about the issue.

“The prime minister raised the brave and heroic British and American soldiers who fought side by side in Afghanistan, many of whom never returned home,” the statement said. “We must never forget their sacrifice, he said.”

Veterans in Britain and elsewhere have been lining up to condemn the U.S. president’s comments to Fox Business Network’s “Mornings with Maria” on Thursday in which he said that the United States had “never needed” the transatlantic alliance and accused allies of staying “a little off the front lines” in Afghanistan.

Among them was King Charles’ younger son Prince Harry, who served two tours in Afghanistan.

“Those sacrifices deserve to be spoken about truthfully and with respect,” he said in a statement.