UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Friday condemned as “insulting” remarks by US President Donald Trump suggesting that troops from NATO allies avoided frontline combat in Afghanistan, as criticism of the comments mounted across Britain and other allied nations.
Trump made the remarks during an interview with Fox News aired on Thursday, in which he appeared unaware that 457 British soldiers were among NATO personnel killed during the Afghanistan conflict following the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States. Referring to NATO allies, Trump said they “sent some troops to Afghanistan” but claimed they “stayed a little back, a little off the front lines,” comments that sparked widespread outrage.
The US president also repeated his assertion that NATO would not come to the aid of the United States if called upon, despite the fact that the alliance invoked its collective security clause for the first and only time after the 9/11 attacks, leading the UK and several European countries to join the US-led campaign in Afghanistan. Troops from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Denmark and other allies also lost their lives during the conflict.
In a video message, Starmer paid tribute to British service personnel who died in the war. “Let me start by paying tribute to 457 of our armed services who lost their lives in Afghanistan,” he said, noting that many others were seriously injured. He described Trump’s comments as “insulting and frankly, appalling,” adding that it was unsurprising they had caused deep hurt to the families of those killed or wounded.
A White House spokeswoman, Taylor Rogers, defended Trump, saying he was “absolutely right” that the United States had done more for NATO than any other country combined.
However, criticism extended beyond the UK. Poland’s Defence Minister, Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz, said he expected respect for Polish veterans who had honoured their commitments to allies, while French Armed Forces Minister Catherine Vautrin noted that 90 French soldiers were killed in Afghanistan and many others wounded, stressing that their sacrifice “commands respect.”
UK Defence Secretary John Healey described the fallen British troops as “heroes who gave their lives in service of our nation,” while Armed Forces Minister Al Carns, a veteran of five tours in Afghanistan, called Trump’s remarks “utterly ridiculous.”
Opposition Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said the comments were “complete nonsense” and risked weakening the NATO alliance. Even Nigel Farage, leader of Reform UK and a long-time supporter of Trump, criticised the US president, saying British forces had fought bravely alongside American troops in Afghanistan for two decades.
Families of fallen soldiers also expressed distress. Lucy Aldridge, whose 18-year-old son William died in Afghanistan, described the remarks as “extremely upsetting.” Mark Atkinson, Director General of the Royal British Legion, said the service and sacrifice of British troops “cannot be called into question.”
Prince Harry, who served two frontline tours in Afghanistan with the Army Air Corps, also weighed in, saying the sacrifices made by service members and their families deserved to be spoken about “truthfully and with respect.”
Official UK figures show that 405 of the 457 British personnel who died in Afghanistan were killed in hostile action. More than 150,000 UK armed forces personnel served in the country between September 2001 and August 2021, making Britain the second-largest contributor to the US-led coalition, according to the Ministry of Defence.
