Trump climbs down over slur on UK troopers in Afghanistan after backlash | EUROtoday

Donald Trump has climbed down over his slurs in opposition to British troopers in Afghanistan after sparking widespread outrage for his false claims made about Nato allies.

The US president has now paid tribute to “the great and very brave soldiers of the United Kingdom”, after beforehand claiming Nato allies stayed away from the entrance traces through the battle in Afghanistan.

Sir Keir Starmer raised Trump’s feedback straight with the US president in a dialog on Saturday, it’s understood.

The prime minister had joined Prince Harry, veterans and politicians from throughout the political spectrum in condemning Trump’s false claims, with Sir Keir calling them “appalling” and demanding an apology.

Critics have pointed to each the variety of non-US coalition deaths in Afghanistan and Trump’s personal avoidance of army service in Vietnam.

The US president this week additionally prompt he isn’t certain that the US’s Nato allies would “be there if we ever needed them”, and he claimed that America had “never needed” its Nato companions, regardless of being the one member state to have ever invoked the alliance’s “all for one, and one for all” clause, within the wake of 9/11.

But in a submit on social media on Saturday afternoon, the US president stated: “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! President Donald J Trump.”

On Friday, the Duke of Sussex, a former Army Air Corps co-pilot gunner who undertook two frontline excursions to Afghanistan, hit out at Trump’s remarks, saying the “sacrifices” of Britons who fought and died within the nation “deserve to be spoken about truthfully and with respect”.

Harry paid tribute to the 457 British personnel who died within the battle, after Sir Keir earlier additionally stated he would always remember “their courage, their bravery and the sacrifice they made for their country”.

His comments come after Trump, who famously avoided the draft for the Vietnam War five times in the 1960s and 1970s, suggested in an interview with Fox News that Nato allied troops “stayed a little off the front lines” in Afghanistan.

More than 1,100 non-US coalition fighters died within the battle that started in 2001, in response to veteran charity Help for Heroes, the overwhelming majority of them being from Nato nations, whereas greater than 2,300 members of the US armed forces have been killed. The UK suffered the second-highest variety of army deaths, behind the US.

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