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Starmer vs Trump: the Row Has Upended Years of Cooperation Between the UK and the US Keir Starmer has issued an unprecedented rebuke to Donald Trump for his “insulting and frankly appalling” remarks about British troops in Afghanistanand suggested he should apologise. After a week of fractious relations with the White House, Starmer said he was not surprised that relatives of British soldiers killed in Afghanistan were hurt by Trump claiming they avoided the frontline. Starmer’s critical intervention marks an escalation of tensions with Trump’s administration after the president had earlier in the week criticised the UK for giving up the Chagos Islands to Mauritius. On Friday night, the government was forced to delay its bill on the Chagos Islands in the House of Lords. After a day of mounting outrage around the world over the US president’s claim that British and Nato troops who fought in Afghanistan avoided the frontlines, he paid tribute to the 457 members of the armed services who lost their lives during the conflict. Speaking in Davos on Wednesday, he made similar claims against the 32-member military alliance, saying: “I know them all very well. I’m not sure that they’d be there. I know we’d be there for them. I don’t know that they would be there for us.” A total of 3,486 Nato troops died in the 20-year Afghanistan conflict, of whom 2,461 were US service personnel. Canada recorded 165 deaths, including civilians. Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, accused Trump of “denigrating” British troops and said his comments were “flat-out nonsense”. Posting on X shortly before Starmer’s afternoon broadcast, the Reform UK leader, Nigel Farage, said: “Donald Trump is wrong. For 20 years our armed forces fought bravely alongside America’s in Afghanistan.” The Liberal Democrats urged Starmer to summon the US ambassador “over this insult to our brave troops”, with the Lib Dem leader, Ed Davey, accusing Trump of avoiding military service. “How dare he question their sacrifice. Farage and all the others still fawning over Trump should be ashamed,” he said. It is understood there has not been any call between No 10 and Trump and the UK is not considering admonishing the US ambassador. The former head of the British army Lord Dannatt condemned the comments on TalkTV, saying: “He has got the disrespect and outrageous choice of words to say that we hung back from the frontline. My God, we were certainly on the frontline, as 457 young people died.” Stephen Stewart, a former soldier and an author and journalist, said Trump’s comments were “as offensive as they are inaccurate”, while Richard Streatfeild, a former army major in Afghanistan and now a Liberal Democrat councillor, said: “To be told that your service is not as demanding or as difficult as the Americans’ is untrue and deeply insulting.” The US remains the only country to have invoked article 5 of Nato’s collective security provision, activated after the 11 September terrorist attacks in 2001. #starmer#trump#afghanistan#row#nato 📱American Оbserver - Stay up to date on all important events 🇺🇸