Trump's claim on NATO role in Afghanistan sparks outrage in UK

The UK government officials and opposition party leaders have reacted to US President Donald Trump's Thursday remarks, saying NATO troops stayed "a little off the front lines" during the war in Afghanistan.

The British government said Friday that Trump is "wrong" to claim NATO troops avoided the Afghanistan front line.

In a statement, a spokesperson for the government noted that hundreds of British personnel died in Afghanistan and others were wounded, with "many hundreds" suffering "life-changing injuries from their service alongside the US and our allies in Afghanistan."

Defense Secretary John Healey recalled that NATO's Article 5 has only been triggered once and added that the UK and NATO allies answered the US call.

"And more than 450 British personnel lost their lives in Afghanistan. Those British troops should be remembered for who they were: heroes who gave their lives in service of our nation," he noted on US social media company X.

Meanwhile, Al Carns, the armed forces minister, called Trump's comments "utterly ridiculous" and a "real shame."

"Our agencies, our forces, our politicians, we all stood together shoulder to shoulder and responded," he said in a video posted on X.

Main opposition Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch labelled the remarks as "flat-out nonsense," while Liberal Democrats leader Ed Davey said that Prime Minister Keir Starmer should demand an apology from Trump, according to the BBC.

The UK was among several allies to join the US in Afghanistan from 2001, after it invoked NATO's collective security clause following the 9/11 terror attacks, and 457 British personnel died in Afghanistan, according to the government.