London: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has signalled that US President Donald Trump should apologise for his false assertion that troops from non-US NATO countries avoided the front line during the Afghanistan war, describing Trump’s remarks as insulting and appalling.
Trump said that he wasn’t sure NATO would be there to support the United States if and when requested, provoking outrage and distress across the United Kingdom on Friday, regardless of individuals’ political persuasion.
We’ve never needed them, we have never really asked anything of them, Trump said of non-US troops in an interview with Fox News in Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday. 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.
In October 2001, nearly a month after the September 11 attacks, the US led an international coalition in Afghanistan to destroy al-Qaida, which had used the country as its base, and the group’s Taliban hosts. Alongside the US were troops from dozens of countries, including from NATO, whose mutual-defence mandate had been triggered for the first time after the attacks on New York and Washington.
UK sacrifice
In the UK, the reaction to Trump’s comments was raw.
Starmer paid tribute to the 457 British personnel who died and to those who have been left with profound life-long injuries.
I will never forget their courage, their bravery and the sacrifice they made for their country, Starmer said. I consider President Trump’s remarks to be insulting and frankly appalling, and I am not surprised they have caused such hurt to the loved ones of those who were killed or injured and, in fact, across the country.
Without naming Trump, Prince Harry weighed in to the furore too, saying the sacrifices of British soldiers during the war deserve to be spoken about truthfully and with respect.
Thousands of lives were changed forever, said Harry, who undertook two tours of duty in Afghanistan in the British Army and who lost friends there. Mothers and fathers buried sons and daughters. Children were left without a parent. Families are left carrying the cost.
After 911, then Prime Minister Tony Blair said that the UK would stand shoulder to shoulder with the US in response to the al-Qaida attacks. British troops took a key role in many operations during the Afghan war until their withdrawal in 2014, particularly in Helmand Province in the south of the country. American troops remained in Afghanistan until their chaotic withdrawal in 2021, when the Taliban returned to power.
More than 150,000 British troops served in Afghanistan in the years after the invasion, the largest contingent after the American one.
Ben Obese-Jecty, a lawmaker who served in Afghanistan as a captain in the Royal Yorkshire Regiment, said that it was sad to see our nation’s sacrifice, and that of our NATO partners, held so cheaply by the president of the United States.
Trump and Vietnam
Anger was further fuelled by the fact that the comments came from someone who didn’t serve in the Vietnam War at a time when he was eligible.
It’s hugely ironic that someone who allegedly dodged the draft for the Vietnam War should make such a disgraceful statement, said Stephen Stewart, author of The Accidental Soldier, an account of his time embedded with British troops in Afghanistan.
Trump received a deferment that allowed him to not serve in Vietnam because of bone spurs, but he has been unable to remember which foot, leading to accusations of draft dodging.
Repeated NATO slights
It wasn’t the first time that Trump downplayed the commitment of NATO countries over the past few days. It has been one of his pivotal lines of attack as he escalated his threats to seize Greenland, a semiautonomous territory belonging to Denmark.
Trump’s allegation that NATO countries won’t be there when requested stands in stark contrast to reality.
The only time Article 5 of NATO’s founding treaty has been used was in response to the 911 attacks on the U.S. The article is the key mutual defence clause, obliging all member countries to come to the aid of another member whose sovereignty or territorial integrity might be under threat.
When America needed us after 911 we were there, former Danish platoon commander Martin Tamm Andersen said.
Denmark has been a stalwart ally of the US in Afghanistan, with 44 Danish soldiers killed there – the highest per capita death toll among coalition forces. Eight more died in Iraq.
The latest controversy surrounding Trump comes at the end of a week when he has faced criticism – and pushback – for his threats to Greenland.
Trump also threatened to slap tariffs on European nations opposed to his ambitions to annex Greenland, which raised questions over the future of NATO. And though Trump backed down after a meeting with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte in which he said they formed the framework for a deal over Arctic security, trans-Atlantic relations have taken a hit.
His latest comments are unlikely to improve relations.
Diane Dernie, whose son Ben Parkinson suffered horrific injuries when a British Army Land Rover hit a mine in Afghanistan in 2006, said that Trump’s latest comments were the ultimate insult and called on Starmer to stand up to Trump over them.
Call him out, she said. Make a stand for those who fought for this country and for our flag, because it’s just beyond belief.
Taking her up on that, Starmer said what I say to Diane is, if I had misspoken in that way or said those words, I would certainly apologise, and I’d apologise to her.
