Overview
- In a Fox News interview in Davos, President Donald Trump said NATO allies in Afghanistan stayed “a little back, a little off the front lines” and questioned whether the alliance would support the United States.
- Downing Street said Trump was wrong to diminish NATO and British troops’ roles, and Prime Minister Keir Starmer called the remarks insulting and appalling while signaling he expects an apology.
- UK veterans and bereaved families condemned the comments as deeply hurtful, noting official figures of 457 British personnel killed and more than 150,000 UK deployments during the campaign.
- European figures pushed back forcefully, with Norway’s defense minister calling the comments disrespectful, Denmark’s ambassador highlighting frontline fighting in Helmand, Poland’s prime minister recalling fallen troops, and Prince Harry stressing that allies answered America’s call.
- NATO’s mutual-defense clause was invoked only once after the 9/11 attacks, and allies fought alongside the US; the dispute compounds recent transatlantic strains tied to Trump’s Greenland and tariff threats, with no public retraction from the president reported.