Trump claim on NATO role in Afghanistan draws UK condemnation

Donald Trump, the president of the United States, has received criticism from British politicians for claiming NATO forces avoided the front lines while fighting in Afghanistan.

In an interview with Fox News, a US broadcaster, the US president once more questioned the worth of the military alliance and suggested NATO allies would not intervene in Washington’s defense if requested.

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Trump claimed on Thursday that the US “never needed” NATO and that allies remained “a little off the front lines” during the Afghanistan conflict.

The comments caused a backlash in the UK political spectrum, with critics questioning Trump’s own military record and citing the volume of NATO casualties during the 20-year conflict.

Losses suffered by allies

457 Afghan service members were lost in the United Kingdom. 90 French soldiers and more than 150 Canadian soldiers were killed. Despite the country’s recent ongoing pressure from Trump to sell its semi-autonomous territory of Greenland to the US, Denmark lost 44 soldiers, which is one of the highest per-capita death rates among NATO members.

Trump’s comments were “deeply disappointing,” according to junior British minister Stephen Kinnock, who claimed that European forces had paid a high price for supporting US-led operations.

In support of American-led missions in places like Afghanistan and Iraq, many British soldiers and many soldiers from other NATO allies gave their lives, Kinnock told the UK’s Sky News broadcaster on Friday.

Anyone who wants to criticize [our armed forces] for what they have done and how much they sacrifice, “is obviously wrong,” he said.

How dare he?

Following the September 11, 2001 attacks, allies rallied behind Washington, and Kinnock noted that the US is the only NATO member to have invoked Article 5, the alliance’s collective-defence clause, in the wake of that event.

He claimed that the US and its European partners, including the UK, played a significant role in NATO, making it the most successful international security alliance “in the history of the world.”

Trump’s refusal to engage in military service during the Vietnam War was highlighted by other UK politicians. Trump has been subject to numerous draft deferments, including one based on a bone spur diagnosis in his heels, a medical claim that has previously been questioned.