Military veterans say president risks isolating America from its allies following his remarks on Afghanistan
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Donald Trump claims British forces stayed away from the front line in Afghanistan and left the fighting to the US Credit: REMKO DE WAAL/AFP
Benedict Smith US Reporter. Robert Mendick Chief Reporter, in Washington DC
24 January 2026 6:00am GMT
American troops have called Donald Trump a “draft-dodger” and accused him of “denigrating” Britain’s role in Afghanistan.
The president, who claimed British forces stayed away from the front line in Afghanistan and left the fighting to the US, received a medical deferment during the Vietnam War for bone spurs.
He faced fierce criticism for his remarks on both sides of the Atlantic, including from one of his former top officials, who warned he could end up isolating the US from its allies.
“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 of European forces on Thursday.
Mr Trump received five deferments during the Vietnam War, including for a bone spur in his heel. He has denied dodging the draft and said he would have “gladly served”.
Shawn VanDiver, a US navy veteran who served alongside British forces off the coast of Iraq, said Mr Trump had never shown “courage” in combat and described his comments as “outright, 100 per cent bulls—”.
“For the president to denigrate the service of these patriots is absolutely unconscionable,” he said.
“No wonder Keir Starmer is p—d off… these folks stood shoulder to shoulder with us for two decades of war and across numerous missions.”
Shawn VanDiver says Donald Trump has never shown ‘courage’ in combatCredit: MANDEL NGAN/AFP
One former US service member, who worked alongside Nato forces in Afghanistan as a contractor, was exasperated at the “nonsense that comes out of that man’s mouth”.
British troops were “right there with us”, the individual said, labelling the president a “draft-dodger” who had never set foot inside a war zone.
A former senior Pentagon official described Mr Trump’s comments as “rich coming from a guy who dodged the draft” and labelled the president “disgusting and out of touch”.
Sir Keir Starmer criticised Mr Trump’s “insulting and frankly appalling” remarks on Friday and suggested the US president should apologise.
Mr VanDiver warned it was a dangerous time for Mr Trump to isolate the US from its allies at a time of rising tensions with Iran.
“I think if we went to war tomorrow, everybody would give us the middle finger,” he said.
British forces suffered 457 deaths in the 20 years of the Afghanistan War, sustaining its greatest losses in 2009 and 2010 during the deployment to Helmand Province.
Brandan Buck, who served four tours in Afghanistan, worked alongside British forces in Helmand, a hotbed of insurgent activity, during the fight against the Taliban.
Mr Buck called Mr Trump’s comment “verifiably false” and said British intelligence officers were “very friendly and very responsive” and “eager to conduct the war”.
“I never got any sense that they were hesitant… in some ways, they’re more active than we were,” he added.
Adml James Stavridis, the former commander of United States European Command, said hundreds of Nato troops had “died under my command on the front lines in Afghanistan” between 2009 and 2013.
“I honour their memory every single day,” he wrote on social media.
Robert Wilkie, who served as Mr Trump’s secretary of veterans affairs in his first term, condemned the president’s comments. He said: “I wish he hadn’t said it.”
Mr Wilkie questioned who had been briefing Mr Trump, given the high casualty rates suffered among troops serving alongside the US in Afghanistan. He added: “The last thing we need is to fulfil the dreams of every Bolshevik and kleptocrat by separating the US from Europe.”
He said Mr Trump was right in trying to encourage Nato allies to increase spending on defence and for Europe to be much better prepared to defend itself, but questioned how the president would not be aware of the sacrifice made by British troops in Afghanistan as well as Iraq, having attended events with UK war veterans.
On Mr Trump’s insistence that the US saved Europe from the Nazis, Mr Wilkie said: “I could make a very sublime set of remarks that it was the British Empire on its last legs that saved Western civilisation until the New World woke up.”
“The last thing we need is to fulfil the dreams of every Bolshevik and kleptocrat by separating the US from Europe.”
That is pretty much the main mission for his second term; act deranged and antagonize our allies to call in question American leadership. This will destroy the relative stability of the world order and create opportunities for other countries (ie China, Russia) to expand their influence and /or control.
Destabilizing the world order does nothing for the US.