Donald Trump has paid tribute to the “very brave” British soldiers who served in Afghanistan after fierce criticism of his claim that non-US troops had stayed back from the frontline.

On Truth Social, he said Britons “were among the greatest of all warriors” as he acknowledged the 457 who died and many who were “badly injured”.

He wrote: “The GREAT and very BRAVE soldiers of the United Kingdom will always be with the United States of America!”

“It’s a bond too strong to ever be broken,” the US president added.

“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!”

President Trump’s post comes after comments in which he falsely claimed NATO troops in Afghanistan had “stayed a little back, a little off the frontlines”.

A clearly angered Sir Keir Starmer had called the remarks “insulting and frankly appalling”, while Prince Harry also defended the bravery of UK troops.

The prince – who served twice in Afghanistan – said British “sacrifices deserve to be spoken about truthfully and with respect”.

It’s understood the prime minister spoke to Mr Trump shortly before the US president’s TruthSocial post on Saturday.

Mr Trump made his controversial comments to Fox News at the World Economic Forum in Davos earlier this week, as he questioned whether NATO would “be there if we ever needed them”.

“We’ve never needed them,” the US president said.

“They’ll say they sent some troops to Afghanistan… and they did, they stayed a little back, a little off the frontlines.”

America is the only NATO member to have invoked the collective security provisions of its Article 5 clause – that an attack against one member is an attack on all.

That came after the 9/11 terror attacks, which led to a US-led invasion of Afghanistan.

The UK suffered the second-highest number of military deaths in the Afghanistan conflict at 457. The US saw 2,461 deaths.

America’s allies suffered 1,160 deaths during the conflict – around a third of the total coalition deaths.