Donald Trump lauded the UK’s military after Prime Minister Keir Starmer urged the US president to apologize for downplaying the role of NATO troops in the war in Afghanistan.
The president in a Saturday social media post stopped short of making a full apology, but said that British forces are “second to none” and that their “GREAT and very BRAVE soldiers” will “always be with the United States of America.”
But one of Trump’s closer allies in Europe, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, issued a strong statement later Saturday saying Trump’s remarks “astonished” the government in Rome.
“Statements that minimize the contribution of NATO countries in Afghanistan are unacceptable, especially when they come from an allied nation,” her office said.
Several other European allies, including Denmark, also blasted Trump’s remarks. His post Saturday, however, made no reference to troops from allies other than the UK.
“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,” Trump wrote about the British contribution.
Earlier: Starmer Condemns ‘Appalling’ Trump Words on Afghanistan Role
Trump and Starmer also spoke, according to the UK government.
“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,” the UK said in a statement, noting that the two leaders agreed to speak soon.
Trump’s initial comments set off widespread outrage among North American Treaty Organization allies, which were already reeling from his effort to strong-arm Denmark into giving up control of Greenland, including by threating tariffs on European products.
The president said on Fox Business that NATO only sent “some troops” during the US’s 2001 invasion of Afghanistan and that they “stayed a little back, a little off the front lines.”
Starmer said that Trump’s remarks were “insulting and frankly appalling” and that he would have apologized if he used them himself.
Trump’s post only mentioned the contributions of UK soldiers, though other allies had troops killed during the conflict. Some 3,486 NATO troops died, of which 2,461 were American. Canada recorded 165 deaths, including civilians, and Denmark lost 44 soldiers.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen pointed out that her country suffered tremendous losses on a per capita basis.
“It is unbearable that the American president questions the efforts of allied soldiers in Afghanistan,” she said in written comments.
Frederiksen had already used increasingly oppositional rhetoric against Trump over his push to seize Greenland, which is a semi-autonomous Danish territory.
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
