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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
National
Matthew Weaver

UK politicians welcome Trump’s retreat over British troops’ role in Afghanistan

Three soldiers in full combat gear crouch on the desert ground as they fire a mortar round
British troops take part in an offensive against the Taliban in Helmand province in May 2007. Photograph: Adrian Harlen/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Donald Trump’s climbdown over his claim that UK troops avoided the frontline in Afghanistan has been greeted with cross-party relief in Westminster despite his failure to apologise for remarks widely condemned as offensive and false.

In a rare clarification, the US president praised British troops as being “among the greatest of all warriors” and acknowledged that 457 had died in Afghanistan.

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