Kinnock told the BBC it was “best at this time not to be distracted by comments that simply don’t really bear any resemblance to the reality.”
Backbencher backlash
The row caps an intensely difficult week for transatlantic relations, with Trump threatening to impose trade tariffs on Britain over its support for Greenland before retreating, and forcefully attacking London’s deal over the future of the Chagos Islands.
Emily Thornberry, the Labour chair of the cross-party Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, called Trump’s words on Afghanistan “so much more than a mistake,” branding them an “absolute insult” to the bereaved families of victims. Lib Dem Leader Ed Davey, one of the U.S. president’s fiercest critics, said Trump “avoided military service five times,” and asked “how dare he question their sacrifice?”
MPs who formerly served in Afghanistan also weighed in. Labour MP Calvin Bailey, previously a Royal Air Force officer, said the comment “bears no resemblance to the reality experienced by those of us who served there.”
Conservative parliamentarian Ben Obese-Jecty, a former British Army captain, said he was “sad to see our nation’s sacrifice, and that of our NATO partners, held so cheaply by the president of the United States.”
And Defense Minister Al Carns, a former Royal Marines officer, called the comments a “real shame” and “utterly ridiculous.”
This story has been updated with further reporting.