UK politicians welcome Trump’s retreat over British troops’ role in Afghanistan

Donald Trump’s climbdown over his claim that UK troops avoided the frontline in Afghanistan has been greeted with cross-party relief in Westminster despite his failure to apologise for remarks widely condemned as offensive and false.In a rare clarification, the US president praised British troops as being “among the greatest of all warriors” and acknowledged that 457 had died in Afghanistan.“The UK military, with tremendous heart and soul, is second to none (except for the USA). We love you all, and always will!” he wrote on Truth Social on Saturday.His post came two days after he told Fox News that the US had “never needed” its allies in Afghanistan and that NATO troops had “stayed a little back, a little off the frontlines”.Trump stopped short of apologising for his remarks, however, and did not clarify his comments about the role of other NATO troops in Afghanistan.The home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, said the clarification was “as good as it gets” with Trump. “I think it’s a recognition that what was said initially was deeply offensive,” she told Sky News.Keir Starmer had condemned Trump’s initial comments as “insulting and frankly appalling”. The president’s climbdown is reported to have come after King Charles relayed his concerns about the Fox interview through diplomatic channels.Starmer calls Trump's comments on NATO and Afghanistan ‘insulting’ – videoAsked whether Trump’s clarification amounted to an apology, Mahmood said: “The president has his way.“When they had a call to discuss matters relating to Ukraine and other international issues, the prime minister did make the point directly to the president how we felt about the initial comments, and I think this was a response to that.“With the president, I suspect this is as good as it gets.”The Liberal Democrat leader, Ed Davey, told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg show: “It was quite appalling for Donald Trump to make those comments, so I am relieved he’s backed down, and grateful to the king for his intervention.“But it doesn’t change my view on Donald Trump, and it doesn’t change my view that this government’s approach to Donald Trump is not the right one.”Asked if she believed the US president was genuinely sorry, the shadow foreign secretary, Priti Patel, told Sky News’s Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips: “I think he is. I think he clearly recognises that what he has said was wrong, there’s no doubt about that, but you know, he said it.“And the reality is, I think there is a wider message here that he has to think carefully about making future statements in such a flippant way. That was just wrong and appalling.”Reform UK’s deputy leader, Richard Tice, reposted Trump’s clarification on X, adding: “Important to have the record set straight.”The chair of Republicans Overseas UK, Greg Swenson, told the BBC it was not in Trump’s nature to apologise.“I’m surprised he even did this and I was quite relieved,” he said. “He’s very unfiltered – it’s quite refreshing, until it’s not. It was a huge mistake. I’m not defending it at all. What I would argue is the clarification is good news.”Addressing Trump on X, William Spencer, the principal military specialist at the National Archives, said: “Progress but no apology! Perhaps you would not have got to this point if you had sought advice before your first statement. However, I think you are too ignorant and too arrogant to think things through!”