A British military veteran who lost two limbs serving in Afghanistan has said his injuries are proof that Donald Trump is wrong about the role of Nato forces in the conflict. Former Royal Marine Commando Ben McBean, 38, from Plymouth, suffered life-changing injuries from an IED explosion in 2008. He lost his left arm and his right leg was amputated above the knee.
Mr McBean told The Independent: “I’m only like this because I was on the front line. I’ve got two kids now, I can’t do sports day with them, I can’t do certain things that I’d like to do with them.” He added: “What he [Trump] said is not true, and it’s out of order, when I know exactly what we were doing out there. It’s really insulting.”
The US president claimed in a Fox News interview that UK troops “stayed a little back, a little off the front lines” in Afghanistan. His comments have been condemned by Sir Keir Starmer, who accused him of “diminishing” Britain’s war dead, and defence minister Al Carns, who described them as “utterly ridiculous”.
Mr McBean, who was deployed around Kajaki in southern Afghanistan, said: “When I got to Kajaki, you were on the front line, you slept with your weapons, you had sentries 24 hours a day, seven days a week. There is no back line, or off the front line.” He recalled the blast that injured him: “I didn’t pass out, so I just hit the deck and looked down – my right leg was gone.”
More than 1,100 non-US coalition fighters died in the conflict, the overwhelming majority from Nato countries, according to Help for Heroes. Defence secretary John Healey said: “Nato’s Article 5 has only been triggered once. The UK and Nato allies answered the US call. And more than 450 British personnel lost their lives in Afghanistan.”
