Trump’s comments on NATO allies unlikely to smooth relations as tensions linger after Greenland tariff threats.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has suggested that Donald Trump should apologise for his claims that European troops were not on the front lines in the war in Afghanistan.
In a rare direct rebuke of the United States president, Starmer said on Friday that Trump’s earlier comments to US broadcaster Fox News that NATO allies stayed “a little off the front lines” in Afghanistan were “insulting and frankly appalling”.
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Asked whether he would demand an apology from Trump, Starmer said, “If I had misspoken in that way or said those words, I would certainly apologise.”
Trump’s comments came after he withdrew a threat to impose tariffs on several European countries that opposed his demands that the US take over Greenland, a semi-autonomous territory of Denmark.
Speaking on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Trump said on Thursday that he was not sure NATO would be there to support the US if and when requested, saying, “We’ve never needed them, we have never really asked anything of them.”
In response, Starmer also paid tribute to the 457 British personnel who died after joining the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 that followed the September 11 attacks on the United States.
More than 150,000 UK armed forces personnel served in Afghanistan, making the country the second-largest contributor to the US-led coalition that sought to destroy al-Qaeda and the armed group’s Taliban hosts.
Alongside the US and UK forces were troops from dozens of countries, including from NATO, whose collective security clause, Article 5, had been triggered for the first time after the attacks on New York and Washington.
More than 150 Canadians were killed in Afghanistan, along with 90 French service personnel and scores from Germany, Italy and other countries.
Denmark, which remains under pressure from Trump over Greenland, lost 44 troops.
The US reportedly lost more than 2,400 soldiers.
As of 2021, Brown University’s Costs of War project estimated 46,319 Afghan civilians died as a direct result of the 2001 invasion.
The figure did not include indirect deaths caused by disease or lack of access to food, water and infrastructure.
‘Thousands of lives changed’
Trump’s comments provoked collective outrage across Europe, where patience with the US president appeared to be wearing thin at the end of a week when his threats to annex Greenland reached a crescendo.
Transatlantic relations took a hit as the US president threatened to slap tariffs on European nations opposed to his ambitions to annex the territory, which raised questions over the future of NATO.
And though Trump appeared to back down after a meeting with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, in which they formed the “framework” for a deal over Arctic security, his comments about NATO troops in Afghanistan drew widespread criticism.
On Friday, Dutch Foreign Minister David van Weel condemned Trump’s remarks, calling them untrue and disrespectful.
And Polish Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said his country was “a reliable and proven ally, and nothing will change that”.
Later on Friday, the United Kingdom’s Prince Harry weighed in, 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.
“Mothers and fathers buried sons and daughters,” he said. “Children were left without a parent. Families are left carrying the cost.”