Injured veteran 'stunned' by Trump's Nato claims

Former paratrooper Ben Parkinson, regarded as the most severely injured British soldier to survive in Afghanistan, has been left "stunned" by Donald Trump's claim America's allies avoided the front lines, his mother said.

The Doncaster soldier, 41, was injured when an Army Land Rover hit a mine near Musa Qala in 2006 and is currently recuperating after another operation.

His mother Diane Dernie said she had spoken to him after the US president provoked outrage by claiming Nato troops "stayed a little back, a little off the front lines".

The US president made his comments in an interview with Fox News and Dernie urged Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to call out Trump and "make a stand."

Trump's remarks drew condemnation from across the political spectrum, with critics pointing to the 457 British deaths in Afghanistan and highlighting Trump's avoidance of military service in Vietnam.

Dernie said: "You never cease to be surprised by things that people can come up with and say after the event, people who weren't there, but this is a new low."

The only time Nato's mutual defence arrangement has been invoked was after the 11 September terrorist attack on the US in 2001, when allies aided US forces in response to the atrocities planned by the Islamist extremist network al-Qaeda from Afghanistan.

Lance Bombardier Parkinson had both legs amputated and suffered a twisted spine and brain damage.

His mother said: "I can assure you, the Taliban didn't plant IEDs [improvised explosive devices] miles and miles back from the front line."

She said Sir Keir should stand up for his own armed forces and refute what Trump had said.

"Come and look at us, the life that Ben leads - 19-and-a-half years on, still fighting for his care, still fighting for him to have a decent life, recovering from a recent operation," she said.

"To hear this man say: 'Oh, well, you just fannied about behind the front lines'... it's the ultimate insult."

She told the BBC: "He and his family lost everything.

"He lost his career, he lost his chance at a normal life, but Ben was proud and happy to do it and we were proud of him."

She went on to say that to have that experience "negated" was "absolutely disgraceful".

She said her son, who left the Army in 2019, had further surgery in December.

"He's still recovering, but full of beans. Can't wait to get going again.

"He can't start walking until the end of February, but then a full programme for this year and waiting to go."

Asked if he had plans for further fundraising, she said: "Absolutely, for guess what? Others injured and suffering after the wars that we supported America with in Iraq and Afghanistan."

Parkinson was made an MBE in 2013 for his work with veterans and other charities.

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