US Vice President denies downplaying British and French military

US Vice President JD Vance asserted that he was not targeting Britain and France when he said that it was in America's economic interests to ensure better security than 20,000 troops from a country that has not fought in decades.

US Vice President JD Vance was heavily criticized by British and French politicians on March 4 after speaking about European plans regarding the deployment of peacekeeping forces in Ukraine.

US Vice President JD Vance during a meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in Munich, Germany, in February.

Specifically, in an interview on Fox News, Mr. Vance stated that America's economic interests in Ukraine are better than ensuring security for "20,000 soldiers from some random country that hasn't fought a war in 30 years."

Previously, Britain and France were widely known as the two countries planning to send peacekeeping forces to Ukraine.

British Conservative politicians were extremely angry about Mr. Vance's statement, according to Politico . Some people highlighted that Britain fought alongside the US in Afghanistan after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the US, then joined the US-led war in Iraq in 2003.

MP James Cartlidge said Mr Vance was "utterly disrespectful" for ignoring that "service and sacrifice". Liberal Democrat spokeswoman Helen Maguire, a former military police captain who served in Iraq, said the US vice president was "erasing history" and "trying to deny reality".

Politician Nigel Farage, a key ally of US President Donald Trump in the UK, said Mr Vance was "wrong" to make that statement. He recalled that in 20 years in Afghanistan, the UK deployed the same number of troops and money as the US and made the same sacrifice. "We stood by the US for the entire 20 years, making exactly the same contribution. They may have been six times bigger, but we did our part. So in that, JD was wrong," Mr Farage said.

In France, Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu also rejected Mr. Vance's comparison. "I would like to say that the greatest strength of an army is the courage of its soldiers. I would like to honor the more than 600 French soldiers who have sacrificed for their country since the Algerian war and who deserve our respect and that of our allies. We respect the veterans of all our allies and we expect our veterans to be respected," Mr. Lecornu said, adding that fortunately the US Vice President had corrected his comments.

Mr Vance said earlier that it was "absurdly disingenuous" to interpret his comments as a rejection of the role of Britain and France.

"I didn't even mention the UK or France in the clip, they have fought valiantly alongside the US for over 20 years and counting. But let's be honest: there are many countries that are volunteering (privately or publicly) to support but don't have the battlefield experience or military equipment to do anything meaningful," Mr. Vance wrote on social network X.

Mr. Vance's spokesman, Taylor Van Kirk, later said that no country in Europe possessed the military resources to effectively deter Russia without support from the United States, according to Reuters.

“Many of these countries have served valiantly in support of US and NATO missions in the past, but it is disingenuous to pretend that those contributions can match the mobilization that a hypothetical European army would require,” Ms. Kirk said.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/pho-tong-thong-my-phu-nhan-ha-thap-quan-doi-anh-phap-185250305070057085.htm