The mother of a severely injured British soldier has slammed US President Donald Trump’s recent comments about the role of NATO troops in the Afghan conflict, describing them as “the ultimate insult.” Trump, in an interview with Fox News, reiterated his suggestion that NATO would not support America if asked and made false claims about the involvement of NATO forces on the front lines.
Trump stated that NATO troops “stayed a little back, a little off the front lines,” despite the fact that around 1,186 non-American NATO troops died in the conflict that began in 2001, according to Help for Heroes. More than 2,300 members of the US armed forces were also killed during the war.
Diane Dernie, the mother of Ben Parkinson, who is considered the most severely injured British soldier to survive in Afghanistan, said: “I can assure you, the Taliban didn’t plant IEDs miles and miles back from the front line.” She added, “To say that British troops, NATO forces, were not involved on the front lines – it’s just a childish man trying to deflect from his own actions, and it’s just beyond belief.”
Ian Sadler, whose son, Trooper Jack Sadler, was killed in Afghanistan in 2007 while serving with the 4/73 Special Observation Battery, Brigade Reconnaissance Force, said: “Trump is just ill-advised by his military aides and the people around him.” Sadler acknowledged that some NATO troops were not on the front lines in the same way as British and US troops, but he emphasized that the British forces were “in the hot spots” and on the front lines, with 457 British soldiers losing their lives and many more seriously injured.
Dernie recounted how in 2008, General David Petraeus, the head of the American forces at the time, had met with the wounded British soldiers and commended their incredible service and the high price they had paid. She said, “For Trump then to come up with this statement is just, it’s insulting.”
Prime Minister Keir Starmer is expected to directly address Trump’s remarks with the president, as a government minister has suggested. The British government has vowed to stand up for the country’s armed forces and refute Trump’s false claims about their role in the Afghan conflict.
