Donald Trump Praises ‘Great And Very Brave’ British Soldiers As He Backs Down In Nato Row

Donald Trump has praised “the great and very brave soldiers of the United Kingdom” as he backed down after a furious row erupted over his comments about the contribution Nato troops made in Afghanistan.

The US president paid tribute to the 457 British soldiers who lost their life in the war, which was triggered by the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Centre.

To date, it is the only time Nato has triggered Article 5, which states all members must come to the aid of another if they are attacked.

In remarks which drew widespread condemnation, including from Keir Starmer, Trump said the military alliance has never come to America’s aid.

He said: “We have never really asked anything of them, you know, they’ll say they sent some troops to Afghanistan, or this or that, and they did. They stayed a little back, little off the frontlines.”

It is understood Starmer, who called his comments “frankly appalling” and suggested Trump should apologise, raised the matter in a phone call with the president on Saturday.

Shortly afterwards, Trump posted: “The GREAT and very BRAVE soldiers of the United Kingdom will always be with the United States of America! In Afghanistan, 457 died, many were badly injured, and they were among the greatest of all warriors. It’s a bond too strong to ever be broken. The U.K. Military, with tremendous Heart and Soul, is second to none (except for the U.S.A.!). We love you all, and always will! ”

A Downing Street spokesperson said: “The prime minister raised the brave and heroic British and American soldiers who fought side by side in Afghanistan, many of whom never returned home. We must never forget their sacrifice, he said.”

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch 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.”

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Elon Musk Mocks Donald Trump’s ‘Board Of Peace’ With Land Grab Pun

Elon Musk mocked Donald Trump’s new “Board of Peace” by joking about the US’s aggressive foreign policy moves today in Switzerland.

The former presidential adviser laid into the fledging body, which – according to Trump – “might” replace the United Nations while speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Musk said: “I heard about the formation of the peace summit. I was like, is that P-I-E-C-E?”

“You know, a little piece of Greenland, a little piece of Venezuela,” Musk laughed. “All we want is piece.”

The entire summit has been overshadowed by Trump’s determination to take “control” over the semiautonomous Danish territory of Greenland, which is also part of Nato.

The president has since backed down over his aggressive threats, dropping his claim that he would slap tariffs on European allies who oppose a potential takeover.

Trump claims he now has a “framework of a future deal” with Nato which meets his Greenland demands.

The US president also ratified his new Board of Peace on the sidelines of Davos, with a handful of countries around the world agreeing to sit as members.

The Davos summit comes weeks after Trump stunned international partners by launching an attack on Venezuela and kidnapping its president, Nicolas Maduro.

Today’s appearance from Musk marked the Tesla, SpaceX and X chief’s first ever appearance at the conference, which is known as a gathering for the world’s elite.

His attendance was particularly surprising considering he has been a vocal critic of the gathering in recent years, calling it “boring” and describing WEF as an “unelected world government that the people never asked for and don’t want”.

The world’s richest person also used to be the president’s right-hand man but he quit his role as chief of the DOGE – Department of Government Efficiencies – last year, sparking several spats with Trump online.

They have since mended their relationship though Musk has not returned to the administration.

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Elon Musk mocks Trump’s Board of Peace for Gaza

\"Is that P-I-E-C-E\"

\"A little piece of Greenland\"

\"A little piece of Venezuela\"

\"All we want is piece\" pic.twitter.com/C5GJuYFzqW

— Farrukh (@implausibleblog) January 22, 2026

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Elon Musk mocks Trump’s Board of Peace for Gaza

“Is that P-I-E-C-E”

“A little piece of Greenland”

“A little piece of Venezuela”

“All we want is piece” pic.twitter.com/C5GJuYFzqW

— Farrukh (@implausibleblog) January 22, 2026

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