The Times - Trump’s affront to UK troops in Afghanistan

24th January 2026, David A Rew, Consultant Surgeon

Sir, As the consultant general surgeon at Camp Bastion Hospital in Helmand province during Prince Harry’s first tour in 2008, I saw at first hand a career’s worth of horrific injuries to British troops and to our allies on the front line of the US war on terror during a few short months. It is clear that we need to maintain lines of communication with our friends in the US in anticipation of better times again, but cancellation of a royal visit this year is surely now needed to signal an end to the shaming political abasement of the White House in the past year.

David Rew  Southampton

Sir, Trump’s comments about UK troops in Afghanistan are a grotesque distortion of the truth. Trump routinely causes offence, but this crosses a line, and is deeply ironic for a man who deferred the draft to Vietnam on five occasions. He has shown yet again how deeply unsuited he is to high office.

Lt Col (ret’d) Martyn Thomas Raglan, Monmouthshire

Donald Trump has a unique knack for grabbing the global headlines on a daily basis. The more offensive or outrageous the headlines, the greater is the press coverage.  It is nevertheless important that we maintain perspective and good relations with the many American friends and wellwishers who will outlive the present US administration.

The anger that was caused by his comments on military service for the American cause of which he has no personal experience, on January 22^nd 2026, caused predictable offense in the UK, and I suspect that The Times had a very large postbag in the   subject.

It was therefore very kind of the Letters Editors to post my own contribution, along with that of my good friend Martyn Thomas from my Brecon life, who is also a regular contributor to the letters column.

Trump: NATO troops avoided the front line in Afghanistan

Larisa Brown - Defence Editor, The Times, Page 1, 23^rd January 2026

President Trump has angered veterans by falsely claiming European troops stayed “off the front lines” in Afghanistan, despite hundreds from Britain and other allied countries dying in combat.

In an interview with Fox News, Trump appeared to mock the role that the Europeans played in the conflict, saying: “We’ve never needed them.

They’ll say they sent some troops to Afghanistan ... and they did, they stayed a little back, a little off the front lines.”

He said the US had “been very good to Europe and to many other countries”, adding: “It has to be a two-way street.”

Britain lost 457 troops in Afghanistan, while another 2,000 military and civilian personnel were wounded.

France, Germany and Italy also suffered deaths. Denmark lost 44 soldiers, one of the highest per-head death tolls among coalition forces in Afghanistan.

Families of loved ones killed in Afghanistan noted there was no front line as such in Helmand because the Taliban planted improvised explosive devices and hid among the public. Ian Wright’s son Gary, 22, a Royal Marine from Scotland, was killed in 2006 when a suicide bomber detonated a device by his patrol vehicle in Lashkar Gah. He said: “There was no such thing as a front line ... the Taliban were not in any form of unit and not identifiable.”

Lord Sedwill, the former British ambassador to Afghanistan, told Times Radio that Trump’s claim was “simply wrong” and that Afghanistan veterans and the families of those who died would be right to feel deeply offended.

He said: “The Americans took the burden but the UK and Denmark, for example, had a higher rate of casualties than the Americans ... and [they] were engaged in some of the most vicious fighting in some of the most dangerous areas ... It is simply wrong and there will again be many American veterans, including American veterans in Congress, who know that it’s wrong.”

Ben Hodges, a former commanding general of the US army in Europe, called the remarks sickening. He told Times Radio: “This is about as angry as I’ve been in quite some time. Look, I was in Kandahar from 2009 to 2010 ... when the bodies of soldiers from all those nations who’ve been killed were being flown home. There’s no American soldier that believes what our president just said.”

The Duke of Sussex, who was in the army for ten years, was deployed twice to Afghanistan. The King is expected to go to the United States for a state visit in April.

Matt Terrill, former chief of staff to Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, defended Trump’s comments. He told Times Radio: “I think what the president is saying is he recognises what Nato has done, but he also recognises what Nato needs to do going forward.

And that is to be strong. And part of that is national defence spending.”

Richard Williams, a former commanding officer of 22 SAS who led soldiers in Afghanistan, said it was worth remembering that none of the British or Nato operations could have happened without “vast quantities of US support”.

Pete Hegseth, the secretary of war, has previously made light of the contributions of allies to the war in Afghanistan.

A veteran himself, he has said his fellow army national guardsmen would joke that the ISAF acronym on their shoulder patches — for International Security Assistance Force — really stood for “I saw Americans fighting”.

Asked if Trump was aware of the 457 British deaths in Afghanistan or would acknowledge the sacrifice made by UK forces, Anna Kelly, the White House’s deputy press secretary, said: “President Trump is right: he has done more for Nato than anyone. America’s contributions to Nato dwarf that of other countries.”

Sir Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrat leader, tweeted: “457 British troops lost their lives in Afghanistan. Trump avoided military service five times. How dare he question their sacrifice. [Nigel] Farage and all the others still fawning over Trump should be ashamed.”