Theresa May is increasing the number of British troops serving in Afghanistan to more than 1,000 for the first time in years as she heads to a crunch Nato summit where allies will come under intense pressure from Donald Trump to spend more on defence.
The prime minister committed an extra 440 troops to the international body’s capacity building mission in the country as she called on other European countries to match the UK’s 2% of GDP on defence spending.
Ministry of Defence sources fear that the US president, who will attend the Brussels summit, could threaten to pull troops out of eastern Europe and refuse to contribute to joint Nato exercises unless they commit to boosting their contribution.
Before taking off on Air Force One, Trump tweeted about the US giving more money to Nato than any other country.
Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)
Getting ready to leave for Europe. First meeting – NATO. The U.S. is spending many times more than any other country in order to protect them. Not fair to the U.S. taxpayer. On top of that we lose $151 Billion on Trade with the European Union. Charge us big Tariffs (& Barriers)!
In remarks which will alarm European defence chiefs, who are…
