ANTI-WAR campaigners lambasted Theresa May today for appeasing US President Donald Trump by deploying hundreds more British soldiers to Afghanistan.

The Prime Minister headed to a two-day Nato summit in Brussels today with a gift of 440 extra troops to bolster US-led forces in the country.

It will take the number of British troops in Afghanistan to over 1,000 for the first time in half a decade. Anti-war organisations criticised her for offering Mr Trump more troops rather than a strategy for peace.

Stop the War Coalition convener Lindsey German told the Star the only reason Ms May was sending more troops was to “please Trump.”

She said: “We were told that this war ended more than 16 years ago – since then, countless lives have been lost and Afghans live in a war-torn and dangerous country.

“Sending more troops is only compounding the problems.

“The war on terror has not ended terrorism but has greatly increased it in Afghanistan and the Middle East.”

Britain is one of only five Nato members that meet the imperialist bloc’s guidelines on spending 2 per cent of GDP on defence.

That is likely to be a cause of contention at the summit as Mr Trump has previously moaned about how much the US pays in to Nato — an implicit criticism of European politicians.

During a photo-op with Nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg, Mr Trump fired a broadside at Germany — which spends 1.2 per cent of its GDP on defence — for agreeing to a new oil and gas pipeline with Russia.

He said Germany is “totally controlled by Russia” but that the US was “protecting all of these countries.”

Mr Stoltenberg went back and forth with Mr Trump over the importance of preserving the Nato alliance but appeared to accept his comments about GDP spending.

He told the BBC that the current “burden-sharing” in the organisation is “not fair” and should be resolved at the summit.