Andrew Hastie unloads on Donald Trump over ‘massive slur’ against Aussie diggers

Liberal leadership aspirant Andrew Hastie has gone online to slam the US President for his “massive slur” against Australian soldiers and other coalition forces who “fought, bled and died alongside Americans” in the Afghanistan war.

Donald Trump has provoked widespread outrage and distress overnight after suggesting troops from NATO countries stayed away from the frontline during the two-decades long conflict against the Taliban in which 41 Australian personnel were killed.

In an interview with Fox News Business on Friday, Australian time, Mr Trump said he was not sure the NATO military alliance would be there to support the US if and when requested.

“We’ve never needed them, we have never really asked anything of them,” he said. “You know, they’ll say they sent some troops to Afghanistan or this or that — and they did, they stayed a little back, a little off the front lines.”

Mr Hastie, who deployed to Afghanistan in 2009 with the Army and then as an SAS Troop Commander in 2013, said President Trump has failed to show leadership qualities by dumping on troops who served in Australia’s longest war.

“This is a massive slur not just against allied troops, but against our Aussie diggers who fought, bled and died alongside Americans,” the West Australian MP said in a social media video posted on Saturday.

“One of the most important things in building coalitions and alliances is mutual respect, and a really important virtue in a leader is restraint. And President Trump by dumping on allied troops has shown neither.”

Watch the video in the player above

The Canning MP’s condemnation of President Trump comes as Liberal MPs debate whether the former soldier and conservative politician should replace Sussan Ley as the party’s next leader.

In the past some internal critics of Mr Hastie have criticised his views supporting Donald Trump’s administration and various controversial policies of his populist anti-immigration “Make American Great Again” movement.

Shadow Defence Minister Angus Taylor, also from the Liberal Party’s right faction, is seen as the outspoken WA backbencher’s main rival in the opposition’s leadership battle that has intensified following this week’s breakup of the Coalition.