Kemi Badenoch, the Tory leader, said: “I’m pleased President Trump has now acknowledged the role of the British armed forces and those brave men and women who gave their lives fighting alongside the US and our allies.
“It should never have been questioned in the first place.”
The Duke declined to comment on Mr Trump’s latest statement. However, a friend noted that the president had not apologised, nor had he mentioned any of the other Nato countries that had served on the front line, incurring between them hundreds of deaths.
Mr Trump’s initial comments came amid a backdrop of increasingly strained relations with Nato, intensified by the US President’s threats to slap tariffs on European nations opposed to his ambitions to annex Greenland.
He later backed down after a meeting with Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte in which he said they formed the “framework” for a deal over Arctic security, announcing further import taxes would no longer be imposed.
The US invaded Afghanistan in October 2001 to oust the Taliban, which was harbouring Osama bin Laden after the 9/11 terror attacks.
Britain suffered the second-highest number of military deaths in the conflict, sacrificing 457 troops, while the US suffered 2,461 fatalities.
More than 3,500 coalition soldiers were killed in Afghanistan, before the US withdrew in 2021.
Buckingham Palace declined to comment.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.telegraph.co.uk ’
