Foreign
Trump says UK soldiers in Afghanistan ‘among greatest of all warriors’
Donald Trump has praised UK soldiers who fought in Afghanistan after his claim that allied forces avoided the front lines prompted criticism from veterans and politicians.
Earlier this week Trump angered US allies by downplaying the role of Nato troops in the war and doubted whether the military alliance would be there for the US “if we ever needed them”.
Trump’s words drew condemnation from international allies, while Sir Keir Starmer called them “insulting and frankly appalling”.
The UK prime minister spoke to Trump on Saturday, after which the US president used his Truth Social platform to praise UK troops as being “among the greatest of all warriors”.
Trump was criticised for remarks he made during an interview with Fox News on Thursday in which the president said of Nato troops: “We’ve never needed them. We have never really asked anything of them.
“They’ll say they sent some troops to Afghanistan… and they did, they stayed a little back, a little off the front lines.”
That triggered a huge backlash from the families of soldiers who served in Afghanistan, as well as veterans and politicians from across the Westminster and international spectrum who called for Trump to apologise.
Prince Harry said the sacrifices of troops needed to be respected as he pointed out Nato’s collective security clause had been invoked once – following the 9/11 attacks.
In October 2001 the US invaded Afghanistan to oust the Taliban, whom they said were harbouring Osama Bin Laden and other al-Qaeda figures linked to the 9/11 attacks the previous month. Nato nations contributed troops and military equipment to the US-led war.
More than 3,500 coalition soldiers died, about two-thirds of them Americans, as of 2021 when the US withdrew from the country. The UK suffered the second-highest number of military deaths in the conflict behind the US, which suffered 2,461 fatalities.
On Saturday, Downing Street said the prime minister and US president spoke about the UK’s involvement alongside US and Nato forces in the conflict.
A spokesperson said: “The prime minister raised the brave and heroic British and American soldiers who fought side by side in Afghanistan, many of whom never returned home. We must never forget their sacrifice”.
Shortly after the conversation, Trump posted fresh comments on his Truth Social platform – appearing to step back from his critical comments but stopping short of directly apologising for the words he used in Thursday’s interview.
He wrote: “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!”
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said she was pleased Trump had acknowledged the UK’s role in fighting alongside the US and Nato allies in Afghanistan.
“It should never have been questioned in the first place,” she said.
On Friday, the Duke of Sussex released a statement in which he praised the contributions of Nato troops who were in Afghanistan.
“I served there. I made lifelong friends there. And I lost friends there,” the prince said.
“In 2001, Nato invoked Article 5 for the first – and only – time in history. It meant that every allied nation was obliged to stand with the United States in Afghanistan, in pursuit of our shared security. Allies answered that call.
“Thousands of lives were changed forever. Mothers and fathers buried sons and daughters. Children were left without a parent. Families are left carrying the cost.
“Those sacrifices deserve to be spoken about truthfully and with respect, as we all remain united and loyal to the defence of diplomacy and peace.”
Most of the 457 British troops who died serving in Afghanistan over a period of nearly 20 years were killed in Helmand – the scene of the heaviest fighting.
Hundreds more suffered injuries and lost limbs – including Cpl Andy Reid who lost both his legs and his right arm after stepping on an improvised explosive device (IED) in Afghanistan.
“Not a day goes by when we’re not in some kind of pain, physically or mentally reflecting on that conflict,” he told BBC Breakfast on Friday.
Reid recalled working with American soldiers, adding: “If they were on the front line and I was stood next to them, clearly we were on the front line as well.”
Badenoch, Sir Ed Davey and Nigel Farage were among the Westminster leaders to call out the US president for his comments; while outside the UK, ministers from foreign governments also criticised Trump’s remarks.
Canada’s Minister of National Defence David J McGuinty said Canadian “men and women were on the ground from the beginning, not because we had to, but because it was the right thing to do.”
American political and military figures have also expressed their anger and frustration over Trump’s Nato comments.
“I think it’s insulting to those who were fighting alongside of us,” former national security adviser Herbery Raymond McMaster told the BBC.
Trump’s new comments on Saturday did not mention any of the other Nato allies who sent troops into Afghanistan.
Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said her government “was astonished” to hear Trump’s first statement and added “our nation paid a cost that is beyond dispute: 53 Italian soldiers killed and more than 700 wounded”.
She said on X: “For this reason, statements that downplay the contribution of Nato countries in Afghanistan are unacceptable, especially when they come from an allied nation”.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said late on Saturday they had launched a missile salvo at US forces stationed at a major base in Saudi Arabia’s Al-Kharj.
The Guards said the Prince Sultan Air Base was being used to equip “F-35 and F-16 fighter jets and is the storage place for fuel tankers”.
While there has been no immediate confirmation of the attack from Saudi Arabia, the kingdom’s defence ministry said earlier it intercepted six ballistic missiles headed towards Al-Kharj.
Saudi Arabia has previously said it has intercepted missiles and drones launched at the base during the ongoing Middle East war.
Riyadh is a close ally of the United States and hosts a large number of its troops. It has repeatedly been attacked by Iran, including strikes on its massive oil industry, but has so far not deployed its military against the Islamic republic.
Saudi authorities have previously condemned Iran’s attacks on its Gulf neighbours as “reprehensible”.
AFP
Donald Trump has urged the UK and other nations to send warships to the Strait of Hormuz to help secure the key shipping route out of the Middle East.
The US president said he hoped China, France, Japan and South Korea would also send ships to the passage, where a number of tankers are said to have been attacked since the US and Israel mounted their war against Iran a fortnight ago.
Responding to Trump’s comments, the UK Ministry of Defence said it was discussing “a range of options to ensure the security of shipping in the region” with allies.
Tehran has said it will keep blocking the strait – the world’s busiest oil shipping channel through which about 20% of world oil supplies usually pass.
Its effective closure, as well as strikes on shipping and energy infrastructure since the war started, has led to a huge rise in global oil prices.
Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on Saturday that “many countries” would be sending warships in conjunction with the US to help keep the strait “open and safe”.
He claimed “100% of Iran’s military capability” had already been destroyed, but that Tehran could still “send a drone or two, drop a mine, or deliver a close-range missile somewhere along, or in, this waterway”.
“Hopefully China, France, Japan, South Korea, the UK, and others, that are affected by this artificial constraint will send ships to the area so that the Hormuz Strait will no longer be a threat by a nation that has been totally decapitated.”
He added: “In the meantime, the United States will be bombing the hell out of the shoreline, and continually shooting Iranian Boats and Ships out of the water. One way or the other, we will soon get the Hormuz Strait OPEN, SAFE, and FREE!”
Trump repeated his appeal in a post later on Saturday – extending it to all “the Countries of the World that receive Oil through the Hormuz Strait” – and said the US would provide “a lot” of support to those who participated.
The president has separately threatened to target Iran’s vital oil infrastructure on Kharg Island if its leadership were to “interfere” with ships seeking to pass through the Strait of Hormuz.
He said the US had “obliterated” military targets on the small island off Iran’s coast on Friday, calling it “one of the most powerful bombing raids in the history of the Middle East”.
Iran’s military said oil and energy infrastructure belonging to firms working with the US would “immediately be destroyed” should the island’s oil infrastructure be attacked.
Tehran has been stepping up such attacks on energy targets in the Gulf, which have become a key element of its response to US and Israeli strikes. It warned on Thursday that any tanker bound for the US, Israel or its partners was a legitimate target.
The UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said in its latest update on 12 March that 16 ships were reported to have been attacked in and around the strait since the war began on 28 February.
Currently, not even the US Navy is escorting tankers through the narrow shipping lane.
Trump’s message came a week after he said the US did not need the UK to send aircraft carriers to the region and accused Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer of seeking to “join wars after we’ve already won”.
He also told the BBC’s US partner CBS that he “couldn’t care less” whether allies could do more to assist with the war, adding: “It’s a little bit late to be sending ships, right? A little bit late.”
He had already criticised Sir Keir for not joining the initial strikes on Iran and refusing at first to allow the US to use UK bases for its joint offensive with Israel – calling him “no Winston Churchill”.
The prime minister later approved “defensive” US action on Iranian missile sites from RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire and Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, saying Iran’s response had become a threat to Britain.
The UK’s first and only warship set to be present in the region – the Type 45 destroyer HMS Dragon – departed for Cyprus on Tuesday, where it will bolster RAF Akrotiri after it was hit by drone strikes.
The Royal Navy used to keep minesweepers based in Bahrain, but no longer has that capability after it withdrew HMS Middleton.
Ministers have insisted the UK built up an RAF presence in the region before the conflict, with the aim of protecting British military personnel.
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said on Saturday that Sir Keir must “rule out deploying British ships just because Trump tells him to”.
“Last week, Trump said he didn’t need Britain’s help because he’d already won this war. So we mustn’t let him push the UK around now. Any decision on the deployment of our armed forces should be made in the UK’s national interest and subject to a vote in Parliament.”
France’s President Emmanuel Macron has previously said he was willing to send warships to the Gulf as “purely an escort mission” – but only once the most “intense phase of the conflict” had ended.
Sri Lanka is repatriating on Friday the remains of 84 Iranian sailors killed when their frigate was sunk nine days ago by a US submarine, the Foreign Ministry said.
The seamen were killed when IRIS Dena was torpedoed on March 4 just off the coast of Sri Lanka, in a move that extended the Middle East war to the Indian Ocean.
“All domestic procedures have been completed, and the Iranians are bringing a chartered aircraft for the repatriation,” spokesman Thushara Rodrigo told AFP.
“The 32 sailors who were rescued by our navy will remain in Sri Lanka.”
The embalmed remains, in sealed boxes, are to be flown out of Sri Lanka from the Mattala International Airport in the south of the country, officials said.
The first batch of 46 bodies was already at the airport by Friday afternoon awaiting an Iranian chartered cargo plane, an official told AFP.
The bodies, which were plucked from the Indian Ocean, were taken to the Karapitiya Hospital in Galle, 115 kilometres (72 miles) south of the capital, where autopsies were carried out.
A local magistrate ordered that the bodies be handed over to the Iranian embassy in Colombo to be sent back to the next of kin.
There was no immediate comment from the Iranian embassy when contacted by AFP.
AFP
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