Extract from ABC News
Donald Trump visited the UK last year for an unprecedented second state visit. (Reuters: Leon Neal/Pool, file)
In short:
Veterans, NATO leaders and Prince Harry have reacted with anger after US President Donald Trump said veterans from other NATO member states avoided the front line in Afghanistan.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the comments were "insulting and frankly appalling" and has called on Mr Trump to apologise.
Article 5 of the NATO treaty, which states an attack on one is an attack on all, has been invoked only once — following the September 11, 2001 attacks — after which European allies responded by joining the US-led mission in Afghanistan.
British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer says Donald Trump's suggestion that NATO troops did not fight on the "front lines" in the war in Afghanistan is "insulting and frankly appalling".
Mr Trump lashed out at the western military alliance during a Fox News interview on Thursday, saying the United States had "never needed" NATO and soldiers from other member states stayed "a little off the front lines" in Afghanistan.
The comments have sparked a furious backlash from veterans, politicians, Prince Harry, who served in Afghanistan, and the leaders of countries who responded to US calls for assistance in the wake of September 11, 2001, terror attacks on New York and Washington.
Mr Starmer said Mr Trump's should apologise for the comments.
"I consider President Trump's remarks to be insulting and frankly appalling, and I'm not surprised they've caused such hurt for the loved ones of those who were killed or injured," Mr Starmer told reporters.
At least 457 British service personnel died in Afghanistan. (Reuters: Toby Melville)
Diane Dernie, whose son Ben Parkinson suffered horrific injuries in Afghanistan in 2006, said that Mr Trump's latest comments were "the ultimate insult" and called on the British prime minister to stand up to his US counterpart over them.
"Make a stand for those who fought for this country and for our flag, because it's just beyond belief," she said.
Taking her up on that, Mr Starmer told broadcasters: "I've made my position clear, and 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."
In an earlier statement, his spokesman pointed out that alongside soldiers from other NATO allies "457 British service personnel lost their lives in Afghanistan and many more were wounded".
"We are incredibly proud of our armed forces and their service and sacrifice will never be forgotten," they said.
Prince Harry took the highly unusual step of releasing a statement, saying that "allies answered the call' when the US asked for help and veterans of Afghanistan should be treated "with respect".
"I served there. I made lifelong friends there. And I lost friends there," he said.
"Thousands of lives were changed forever. Mothers and fathers buried sons and daughters. Children were left without a parent. Families are left carrying the cost.
"Those sacrifices deserve to be spoken about truthfully and with respect, as we all remain united and loyal to the defence of diplomacy and peace."
'Trump avoided military service'
Britain's veterans minister, Alistair Carns, whose own military service included five tours including alongside American troops in Afghanistan, called Trump's claims "utterly ridiculous".
"We shed blood, sweat and tears together. Not everybody came home," he said in a video posted on X.
British politicians noted that Mr Trump had avoided the draft for the Vietnam War, citing bone spurs in his feet.
"Trump avoided military service 5 times," Ed Davey, leader of Britain's centrist Liberal Democrats, wrote on X. "How dare he question their sacrifice."
"We expect an apology for this statement," Roman Polko, a retired Polish general and former special forces commander who served in Afghanistan and Iraq, told Reuters in an interview.
Mr Trump has "crossed a red line", he added. "We paid with blood for this alliance. We truly sacrificed our own lives."
Poland's sacrifice "will never be forgotten and must not be diminished", Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz added.
"Poland is a reliable and proven ally, and nothing will change that," he said on X.
NATO soldiers at the site of a suicide attack in Kabul, Afghanistan, in 2017. (Reuters: Mohammad Ismail)
Mr Trump's comments were "ignorant", said Rasmus Jarlov, an opposition Conservative Party member of Denmark's parliament.
Ben Obese-Jecty, a British MP 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".
Under NATO's founding treaty, members are bound by a collective-defence clause, Article 5, which treats an attack on one member as an attack on all.
It has been invoked only once - after the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington. European allies responded by joining the US-led mission in Afghanistan.
The United States lost about 2,460 troops in Afghanistan, according to the US Department of Defense. A total of 457 British military personnel were killed from the more than 150,000 who were deployed.
More than 150 Canadians were also killed along with 90 French service personnel, while Denmark - which has been under heavy pressure from Mr Trump to sell its semi-autonomous region of Greenland to the US - lost 44 troops, one of NATO's highest per-capita death rates.
“When America needed us after 9/11 we were there,” former Danish platoon commander Martin Tamm Andersen said.
Forty-one Australian soldiers were killed as well as with three New Zealand troops.
Trump revokes Canada's Board of Peace invitation
On Thursday, Mr Trump also withdrew an invitation for Canada to join his Board of Peace initiative aimed at resolving global conflicts.
The move follows Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney's speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, where he openly decried powerful nations using economic integration as weapons and tariffs as leverage.
"Please let this Letter serve to represent that the Board of Peace is withdrawing its invitation to you regarding Canada's joining, what will be, the most prestigious Board of Leaders ever assembled, at any time," Mr Trump wrote in a Truth Social post directed at Mr Carney.
Meanwhile, UK minister Stephen Kinnock also weighed in on Mr Trump's comments from his Fox News interview.
"Many, many British soldiers and many soldiers from other European NATO allies gave their lives in support of American-led missions in places like Afghanistan and Iraq," junior minister Stephen Kinnock told Sky News.
"I think anybody who seeks to criticise what [our armed forces] have done and the sacrifices that they make is plainly wrong," he added.
Reuters/AFP
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