US President Donald Trump has as soon as once more questioned whether or not NATO allies would “be there” if the United States “ever needed them,” baselessly claiming that the alliance’s troops “stayed a little back” from the front lines in Afghanistan.
“I’ve always said, ‘Will they be there, if we ever needed them?’ And that’s really the ultimate test. And I’m not sure of that. I know that we would have been there, or we would be there, but will they be there?” Trump mentioned Thursday in an interview with Fox News in Davos, Switzerland.
In the wake of the 9/11 terrorist assaults, the US grew to become the primary and thus far solely NATO member to invoke Article 5, which states that an assault in opposition to one member is an assault in opposition to all. For 20 years, NATO allies and different accomplice international locations fought alongside US troops in Afghanistan – a sacrifice Trump has routinely downplayed.
“We’ve never needed them. We have never really asked anything of them. 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,” he mentioned.
President Trump says US has ‘by no means wanted’ NATO and claims its troops prevented front lines in Afghanistan
The president’s feedback have rankled US allies in NATO, coming on the finish of a week in which he has severely strained the alliance by his repeated threats to grab management of Greenland, an autonomous a part of Denmark, one other NATO member.
While in absolute phrases the US misplaced by far essentially the most troops of any NATO nation in Afghanistan, some European international locations – with a lot smaller populations than the US – misplaced nearly as many troops in relative phrases.
Around 3,500 allied troops died in the battle, of which 2,456 had been Americans and 457 had been British. Denmark, with a inhabitants of round 5 million when the invasion started, misplaced greater than 40 troops.
The power dispatched to the southern Helmand province – a Taliban stronghold and a heart of opium manufacturing – initially comprised largely British and Danish troops, earlier than the US despatched reinforcements in 2008. Britain and Denmark suffered most of their casualties in Helmand.
On Friday, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer sharply criticized Trump’s “insulting and frankly appalling” feedback, and recommended the US president apologize for his remarks.
“I’m not surprised they’ve caused such hurt to the loved ones of those who were killed or injured,” Starmer mentioned. “If I had misspoken in that way or said those words, I would certainly apologize.”
The White House shrugged off Starmer’s criticism and insisted Trump was right in his sentiments.
“President Trump is absolutely right – the United States of America has done more for NATO than any other country in the alliance has done combined,” Taylor Rogers, a White House spokeswoman, mentioned when requested to reply to Starmer’s feedback.
Prince Harry, who was twice deployed to Afghanistan, mentioned in a assertion supplied by his spokesperson that the sacrifices of NATO troops deserve respect.
“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,” he mentioned in a assertion supplied by his spokesperson on Friday.
Since the flip of the yr, Trump has repeatedly questioned NATO’s willingness to assist the US. “I DOUBT NATO WOULD BE THERE FOR US IF WE REALLY NEEDED THEM,” he blasted on Truth Social on January 7. “We will always be there for NATO, even if they won’t be there for us.”
Before Trump’s feedback to Fox News, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte had pushed again on the president’s earlier makes an attempt to decrease the alliance’s willingness to assist the US.
“There was one thing I heard you say yesterday and today – you were not absolutely sure that Europeans would come to the rescue of the US if you will be attacked,” Rutte mentioned Wednesday in Davos, sitting subsequent to Trump. “Let me tell you – they will. And they did in Afghanistan, as you know.”
“For every two Americans who paid the ultimate price, there was one soldier from another NATO country that did not come back to his family,” Rutte mentioned. “This is important. It pains me if you think it is not.”
British lawmakers throughout the political spectrum had been additionally outraged by Trump’s feedback.
“NATO’s Article 5 has only been triggered once. The UK and NATO allies answered the US call. And more than 450 British personnel lost their lives in Afghanistan,” mentioned Defense Secretary John Healey. “Those British troops should be remembered for who they were: heroes who gave their lives in service of our nation.”
Emily Thornberry, chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, mentioned Trump’s feedback had been an “absolute insult,” whereas Kemi Badenoch, the chief of the opposition Conservative Party, known as them “flat-out nonsense,” saying that the allies’ sacrifice “deserves respect not denigration.”
Other members of the Trump administration have additionally made gentle of the sacrifices made by NATO allies in Afghanistan. In June, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth mentioned his fellow US troops in Afghanistan would joke that the ISAF acronym on their shoulder patches – which stood for International Security Assistance Force – really stood for “I Saw Americans Fighting.”
“What ultimately was a lot of flags … was not a lot of on the ground capability,” Hegseth mentioned, disparaging the efforts of NATO allies.