{"id":389572,"date":"2026-01-25T10:52:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-25T10:52:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/389572\/"},"modified":"2026-01-25T10:52:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-25T10:52:08","slug":"trump-praises-u-k-troops-after-backlash-over-nato-front-line-remarks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/389572\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump praises U.K. troops after backlash over NATO front line remarks"},"content":{"rendered":"

President Donald Trump commended British soldiers who fought in Afghanistan in a social media post on Saturday, backtracking on remarks he made<\/a> that attracted criticism from NATO allies. <\/p>\n

In an interview Thursday, Trump had claimed troops from non-American NATO countries had stayed off the “front lines” during the war in Afghanistan. The comments drew fierce criticism across Europe, including from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who called them \u201cinsulting and frankly, appalling.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump had told Fox Business the U.S. \u201cnever needed\u201d the trans-Atlantic military alliance, one of the pillars of the post-World War II international order.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have never really asked anything of them,\u201d he said. \u201cYou know, they\u2019ll say they sent some troops to Afghanistan or this or that, and they did. They stayed a little back, little off the front lines.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

In a post on Truth Social on Saturday, Trump wrote that the \u201cgreat and very brave soldiers of the United Kingdom will always be with the United States of America.\u201d<\/p>\n

He did not make a direct apology for his remarks, however. <\/p>\n

Of the 3,621 coalition soldiers killed during the war, around 1,160 were America’s allies, including 457 British servicemen and women. <\/p>\n

Trump described them, as well as those who were badly injured, as \u201camong the greatest of all warriors.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cThe U.K. Military, with tremendous Heart and Soul, is second to none (except for the U.S.A.!). We love you all, and always will!,\u201d Trump added. <\/p>\n

Starmer\u2019s office said the Prime Minister had discussed the issue with Trump in a phone call on Saturday. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe Prime Minister raised the brave and heroic British and American soldiers who fought side by side in Afghanistan, many of whom never returned home,\u201d Downing Street said in a statement. We must never forget their sacrifice\u201d. <\/p>\n

In the wake of the September 11, 2001, terror attacks, the U.S. led an international coalition in Afghanistan with the aim of toppling the terror group Al Qaeda and the country\u2019s ruling militant group, the Taliban. NATO triggered Article 5 for the first and only time to date.<\/p>\n

Prince Harry, who served two tours in Afghanistan with the British Army, had joined a chorus of veterans, U.K. and European officials<\/a> in rebuking Trump\u2019s remarks. <\/p>\n

In a statement issued on Friday, the Duke of Sussex said allies \u201canswered\u201d the call to join the U.S.-led mission in Afghanistan, rallying in pursuit of a \u201cshared security\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cI served there. I made lifelong friends there. And I lost friends there,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThose sacrifices deserve to be spoken about truthfully and with respect, as we all remain united and loyal to the defense of diplomacy and peace,\u201d Harry added.<\/p>\n

Britain\u2019s veterans minister, Alistair Carns, whose own military service included five tours in Afghanistan, called Trump\u2019s claims \u201cutterly ridiculous\u201d.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s remarks worsened already-strained diplomatic relations with European allies already rattled by his push to acquire Greenland. <\/a><\/p>\n

Trump used his address at the World Economic Forum earlier this week to chastise Europe, accusing countries of \u201cdestroying themselves\u201d and saying that \u201ccertain places in Europe are not even recognizable, frankly, anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

The United States lost about 2,460 troops in Afghanistan, according to the U.S. Department of Defense. <\/p>\n

More than 150 Canadians were also killed, along with 90 French service personnel, while Denmark lost 44 troops, one of NATO\u2019s highest per-capita death rates. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"President Donald Trump commended British soldiers who fought in Afghanistan in a social media post on Saturday, backtracking…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":389573,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-389572","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389572","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=389572"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389572\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/389573"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=389572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=389572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=389572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}