Trump’s comments on NATO allies are unlikely to improve relations as tensions continue following tariff threats against Greenland.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has suggested that Donald Trump should apologize for his claim that European troops were not on the front line in the war in Afghanistan.
In a rare direct rebuke of the US president, Starmer said on Friday that Trump was earlier Comments According to the US broadcaster Fox News, it was “insulting and frankly appalling” that the NATO allies in Afghanistan remained “somewhat off the front lines”.
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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 definitely apologize.”
Trump’s comments came after he backed off his threat to impose tariffs on several European countries that opposed his demands that the U.S. take over Greenland, a semi-autonomous territory of Denmark.
On the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Trump said Thursday he was unsure if NATO would be there to support the U.S. if and when asked, saying: “We’ve never needed them, we’ve never really asked them for anything.”
In response, Starmer also paid tribute to the 457 British soldiers who died after joining the US-led invasion Afghanistan in 2001, which followed the September 11 attacks on the United States.
More than 150,000 members of the British armed forces served in Afghanistan. That made the country the second-largest contributor to the U.S.-led coalition that sought to destroy al-Qaeda and the armed group’s Taliban hosts.
In addition to the US and British forces, there were troops from dozens of countries, including NATO Collective Security ClauseArticle 5 first came into force after the attacks in New York and Washington.
More than 150 Canadians were killed in Afghanistan, as well as 90 French soldiers and numerous soldiers from Germany, Italy and other countries.
Denmark, which remains under pressure from Trump over Greenland, lost 44 soldiers.
The US reportedly lost more than 2,400 soldiers.
“Thousands of lives have changed”
Trump’s comments sparked collective outrage across Europe, where patience with the US president appeared to have run out after a week in which he threatened annexation Greenland reached a crescendo.
Transatlantic relations suffered a blow when the US president threatened to do so Tariffs against the European nations that opposed his ambitions to annex the territory, raising questions about the future of NATO.
And although Trump, after a meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, where she said the “FrameAs he pushed for an agreement on Arctic security, his comments about NATO troops in Afghanistan drew widespread criticism.
On Friday, Dutch Foreign Minister David van Weel condemned Trump’s comments, calling them untrue and disrespectful.
And Polish Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said his country is “a reliable and proven ally and nothing will change.”
Later on Friday, Britain’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 have been changed forever,” said Harry, who served two tours of duty with the British Army in Afghanistan.
“Mothers and fathers buried their sons and daughters,” he said. “The children were left without parents. The families have to bear the costs.”
