King Charles' concerns over Trump's Afghanistan slur relayed to White House

By Poppy Wood and Victoria Ward

Donald Trump backtracked on his comments on British troops in Afghanistan after the King's concerns were relayed to the White House.

His Majesty's intervention is thought to have influenced the US president into a climbdown over his claim that British troops stayed away from the front line in Afghanistan.

In a stark retreat from his previous comments, Mr Trump said on Saturday that UK troops who fought in Afghanistan were "among the greatest of all warriors" and acknowledged that 457 British service personnel were killed in the conflict.

The King is understood to have had his concerns relayed to the president through the appropriate back channels, ahead of a planned visit to the US in April to mark the country's 250th anniversary of independence.

On Thursday, Mr Trump told Fox News that he was "not sure" America's military allies would support the US "if we ever needed them".

Speaking about the US's global partners, Mr Trump said: "We've never needed them. We've never really asked anything of them.

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"They'll say they sent some troops to Afghanistan... and they did, they stayed a little back, a little off the front line."

Prince Harry – who served in Afghanistan – responded to the president's remarks, saying that the "sacrifices" of British soldiers must be "spoken about truthfully and with respect".

The Duke said in a statement: "I served there. I made lifelong friends there. And I lost friends there. The United Kingdom alone had 457 service personnel killed.

"Thousands of lives were changed forever. Mothers and fathers buried sons and daughters. Children were left without a parent. Families are left carrying the cost.

"Those sacrifices deserve to be spoken about truthfully and with respect, as we all remain united and loyal to the defence of diplomacy and peace."

On Saturday afternoon, Sir Keir Starmer spoke to Mr Trump on the phone, raising his concerns in a discussion that touched on "the brave and heroic British and American soldiers who fought side by side in Afghanistan, many of whom never returned home".

After the call, the president released a public statement honouring the "GREAT and very BRAVE soldiers of the United Kingdom".

He wrote:

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 threat to slap tariffs on European nations opposed to his ambitions to annex Greenland.

He later backed down after a meeting with Mark Rutte, the Nato secretary-general, in which he said they formulated 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.

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