𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Donald Trump was slammed as “plainly wrong” by a Government Minister, after he provoked outrage by claiming British soldiers failed to fight in Afghanistan. The US President told Fox News that NATO troops stayed away from the front line, repeating his suggestion that America’s allies would not support it in a military conflict if asked.

His remarks drew condemnation from across the political spectrum, with critics pointing to the 457 British deaths in Afghanistan and highlighting Mr Trump’s avoidance of military service in Vietnam. And Health Minister Stephen Kinnock pointed out that America was in fact the only NATO member to invoke Article 5 of the alliance’s treaty, which allows members to request help from other countries – and the UK, along with other countries, responded by sending military aid after the 9-11 terror attacks in 2001.

Mr Kinnock told Sky News: “It just doesn’t really add up, what he said.

“Because the fact of the matter is the only time Article 5 has been involved was to go to the aid of the US after 9-11.

“And many British soldiers, and other soldiers from European NATO allies, gave their lives in support of American-led missions in Afghanistan and Iraq

I am incredibly proud of our armed forces. They put their lives on the line. They are the definition of honour, valour and patriotism.

“And I think anybody who seeks to criticise what they have done and the sacrifices that they make is plainly wrong, and I think the reaction to Donald Trump’s comments is very clear from right across the political spectrum.”

Mr Kinnock added: “President’s trumps comments are deeply disappointing, There is no other way to say that. I don’t really know why he said that.”

In his television interview, which sparked outrage, Mr Trump said: “We’ve never needed them.

“They’ll say they sent some troops to Afghanistan … and they did, they stayed a little back, a little off the front lines.”

Tan Dhesi, chairman of the Commons Defence Committee, said the president’s comments were “appalling and an insult to our brave British servicemen and women, who risked life and limb to help our allies, with many making the ultimate sacrifice”.

Calvin Bailey, a Labour MP and former RAF officer who served alongside US special operations units in Afghanistan, told the Press Association Mr Trump’s claim “bears no resemblance to the reality experienced by those of us who served there”.

Conservative MP Ben Obese-Jecty, who served in Afghanistan as a captain in the Royal Yorkshire Regiment, said it 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 Foreign Affairs Committee chairwoman Dame Emily Thornberry described them as “so much more than a mistake”, and “an insult” to the families of those who had died.

Mr Trump has previously been criticised for avoiding being conscripted to fight in Vietnam thanks to being diagnosed with bone spurs in his heels – a claim that has been subject to significant doubt.

Former soldier, author and journalist Stephen Stewart said: “Trump’s comments are as offensive as they are inaccurate.

“It’s hugely ironic that someone who allegedly dodged the draft for the Vietnam War should make such a disgraceful statement.

“He has desecrated the memory of hundreds of British soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice in Afghanistan, people who we called friends and comrades.

“If he was a man of honour, he would get down on bended knees to ask forgiveness from the families of the fallen.”

And Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said in a post on X: “Trump avoided military service 5 times.

“How dare he question their sacrifice. Farage and all the others still fawning over Trump should be ashamed.”

The UK suffered the second-highest number of military deaths in the Afghanistan conflict, behind the US, which saw 2,461 deaths.

In total, America’s allies suffered 1,160 deaths in the conflict, around a third of the total coalition deaths.

Mr Bailey also pointed to the high number of deaths per capita suffered by Denmark, which sent troops to fight alongside the British in Helmand province but has now had to fend off Mr Trump’s bid to annex Greenland.

He said: “As I reminded the US forces I served with on the 4th of July in 2008, we were there because of a shared belief, articulated at America’s founding, that free people have inalienable rights and should not live under tyranny.

“That belief underpinned the response to 9/11, and it is worth reflecting on now.”

America remains the only country to have invoked the collective security provisions of NATO’s Article 5, with the alliance to provide support to the US after the terrorist attacks of September 11 2001.