<
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/23/donald-trump-outrage-nato-troops-avoided-afghanistan-frontline>
"Keir Starmer has issued an unprecedented rebuke to Donald Trump for his
“insulting and frankly appalling” remarks about British troops in Afghanistan
and 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."
Also:
‘Unfathomable’: Australian veterans disgusted by Trump’s claim allied troops
‘stayed a little back’ from frontline
<
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/24/unfathomable-australian-veterans-disgusted-by-trumps-claim-allied-troops-stayed-a-little-back-from-frontline>
"The head of Australia’s largest veteran organisation has categorically
rejected Donald Trump’s claim that allied soldiers “stayed a little back” from
the frontlines when they supported the US campaign in Afghanistan, calling the
comments “unfathomable”.
The US president made the comments on
Fox News on Thursday, saying he was
“not sure” Nato would meet the “ultimate test” of defending the US if it were
under threat.
“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 frontlines,” he said,
adding the US had been “very good to Europe and to many other countries. It has
to be a two-way street.”
Forty-seven Australian service personnel lost their lives fighting in
Afghanistan, while 261 were wounded and almost 40,000 served in what became
Australia’s longest war.
The Returned and Services League of Australia (RSL) national president, Peter
Tinley, said he had no doubt the “vast majority” of Australia’s 630,000
veterans would be “absolutely disgusted and outraged at what really is a
cowardly attack by the president on those who can’t defend themselves”.
He said the families of the personnel who died would be “completely affronted
by the fact that their sacrifice … has been denigrated to the extent that it
has. It’s just unfathomable.
“It’s as senseless as throwing paint on a war memorial and only serves to hurt.
It’s completely disingenuous,” he told
Guardian Australia on Saturday."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
