Former Royal Navy chief Admiral Lord West has joined veterans and politicians from across the political spectrum in condemning Donald Trump’s claim that NATO allies “stayed a little back” from the frontline in Afghanistan. The ex-First Sea Lord, who coordinated naval activity in the conflict, said it was “wrong and a disgraceful thing for anyone to say, let alone the head of state of an allied nation.”
The condemnation came as former Defence Secretary Grant Shapps said the bereaved families of the more than 400 British personnel who died in Afghanistan deserved “gratitude, not casual distortion” from the US President. Around 1,061 non-American NATO troops were killed in the conflict that began in 2001, according to Help for Heroes.
However, Trump told Fox News that NATO countries “sent some troops to Afghanistan…and they did, they stayed a little back, a little off the front line.” His comments have provoked cross-party outrage, with a government minister saying the claims are “plainly wrong” and “deeply disappointing.”
Care Minister Stephen Kinnock told Sky News that “the only time that Article 5 has been invoked was to go to the aid of the United States after 9/11.” He added: “Many, many British soldiers and many soldiers from other European NATO allies gave their lives in support of American-led missions in places like Afghanistan and Iraq.”
Describing British forces as “the definition of honour and valour and patriotism,” Kinnock said: “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 President Trump’s comments are very clear from right across the political spectrum.”
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.
The mother of a young British rifleman killed in Afghanistan, Lucy Aldridge, said Trump had “no compassion whatsoever for anyone who doesn’t serve him.” Conservative MP Ben Obese-Jecty, who served in Afghanistan, 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.”
