Free Republic

President Trump appeared on Saturday to walk back comments he made earlier in the week, suggesting non-U.S. troops in NATO avoided the front lines in Afghanistan, following widespread anger from British political leaders and military families. “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...

Donald Trump was "wrong to diminish the role of troops, including British forces" in Afghanistan, Downing Street has said. The prime minister's official spokesperson told political lobby journalists: "Trump was wrong in diminishing sacrifice as part of NATO in Afghanistan." "The president was wrong to diminish the role of troops, including British forces". "457 British personnel were killed in Afghanistan, more wounded. Many suffered life changing injuries, their sacrifice and others were made in service of security and in response to an attack on an ally," they said. The spokesperson said Sir Keir Starmer was very proud of service personnel...

President Donald Trump has bestowed upon the nation of Qatar a remarkable security guarantee that could include coming to its defense militarily. In an executive order dated earlier this week, Trump declared that the United States will regard any attack on Qatar’s territory, sovereignty or critical infrastructure “as a threat to the peace and security of the United States” itself. And perhaps most crucially, the order suggests the US might come to Qatar’s defense militarily.

Ukraine reports strikes just hours after Russian leader agreed to suspend attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure in a call with US president. Vladimir Putin rejected Donald Trump’s proposal for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine after a “frank” phone call on Tuesday between the two presidents. Instead, the Russian leader agreed to a 30-day pause in attacks on energy plants and infrastructure and to hold further talks on stopping hostilities in the Black Sea.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has torn into Vice President JD Vance's claim that a Franco-British peacekeeping force would be just "20,000 troops from some random country that hasn't fought a war in 30 or 40 years". Speaking to GB News from today's mass farmer protest in Westminster, Farage said the Vice President was "wrong, wrong, wrong" as he hailed how Britain "did our bit" alongside the US in Afghanistan. He told the People's Channel: "JD Vance is wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong. For 20 years in Afghanistan, pro-rata, our size against America's, we spent the same amount of money, we...

France's far-right leader Jordan Bardella Friday said he had cancelled his speech at a right-wing meeting in Washington after a "gesture alluding to Nazi ideology" by conservative firebrand Steve Bannon. The president of France's National Rally party, who is in the US capital, said he was not present when Bannon, one of the masterminds behind Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, made a gesture that has been described as a Nazi salute on Thursday at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).

Russian forces suffered an average of 983 casualties per day in Ukraine in February, the highest since the war began, the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) said in an intelligence update on Sunday. The UK department said the increase in casualties, which included both killed and wounded soldiers, was likely due to "Russia's commitment to mass and attritional warfare." In February, Russia finally captured the embattled Ukrainian town of Avdiivka, which sits just north of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine. War analysts have noted that Russia's tactics to take Avdiivka often involved "human wave" assaults, attempting to overwhelm Ukrainian positions with...

All the latest news from France, what's really happening there from an insider.