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

Home secretary says climbdown was as good as it gets' from US president despite failure to apologise for remarks

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.