Donald Trump has climbed down over his slurs against British soldiers 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 previously claiming Nato allies stayed away from the front lines during the war in Afghanistan.
Sir Keir Starmer raised Trump’s comments directly with the US president in a conversation on Saturday, it is understood.
The prime minister had joined Prince Harry, veterans and politicians from across the political spectrum in condemning Trump’s false claims, with Sir Keir calling them “appalling” and demanding an apology.
Critics have pointed to both the number of non-US coalition deaths in Afghanistan and Trump’s own avoidance of military service in Vietnam.
The US president this week also suggested he is not sure that the US’s Nato allies would “be there if we ever needed them”, and he claimed that America had “never needed” its Nato partners, despite being the only member state to have ever invoked the alliance’s “all for one, and one for all” clause, in the wake of 9/11.
But in a post on social media on Saturday afternoon, the US president said: “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 tours to Afghanistan, hit out at Trump’s remarks, saying the “sacrifices” of Britons who fought and died in the country “deserve to be spoken about truthfully and with respect”.
Harry paid tribute to the 457 British personnel who died in the conflict, after Sir Keir earlier also said he would never forget “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 in the conflict that began in 2001, according to veteran charity Help for Heroes, the overwhelming majority of them being from Nato countries, while more than 2,300 members of the US armed forces were killed. The UK suffered the second-highest number of military deaths, behind the US.
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Source: independent.co.uk