Trump provokes outrage with Nato Afghanistan claims

Donald Trump has provoked outrage among MPs and veterans after claiming Nato troops stayed away from the front line in Afghanistan.

The US president made his comments in an interview with Fox News in which he reiterated his suggestion that Nato would not support America if asked.

He said: “We’ve never needed them.

“They’ll say they sent some troops to Afghanistan … and they did, they stayed a little back, a little off the front lines.”

His remarks drew condemnation from across the political spectrum, with critics pointing to the 457 British deaths in Afghanistan and highlighting Mr Trump’s avoidance of military service in Vietnam.

Calvin Bailey, a Labour MP and former RAF officer who served alongside US special operations units in Afghanistan, told the Press Association Mr Trump’s claim “bears no resemblance to the reality experienced by those of us who served there”.

Conservative MP Ben Obese-Jecty, who served in Afghanistan as a captain in the Royal Yorkshire Regiment, said it was “sad to see our nation’s sacrifice, and that of our Nato partners, held so cheaply by the president of the United States”.

Tan Dhesi, chairman of the Commons Defence Committee, said the president’s comments were “appalling and an insult to our brave British servicemen and women, who risked life and limb to help our allies, with many making the ultimate sacrifice”.

And Foreign Affairs Committee chairwoman Dame Emily Thornberry described them as “so much more than a mistake”, and “an insult” to the families of those who had died.

Mr Trump has previously been criticised for avoiding being conscripted to fight in Vietnam thanks to being diagnosed with bone spurs in his heels – a claim that has been subject to significant doubt.

Former soldier, author and journalist Stephen Stewart said: “Trump’s comments are as offensive as they are inaccurate.

“It’s hugely ironic that someone who allegedly dodged the draft for the Vietnam War should make such a disgraceful statement.

“He has desecrated the memory of hundreds of British soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice in Afghanistan, people who we called friends and comrades.

“If he was a man of honour, he would get down on bended knees to ask forgiveness from the families of the fallen.”

And Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said in a post on X: “Trump avoided military service 5 times.

“How dare he question their sacrifice. Farage and all the others still fawning over Trump should be ashamed.”

The UK suffered the second highest number of military deaths in the Afghanistan conflict, behind the US, which saw 2,461 deaths.

In total, America’s allies suffered 1,160 deaths in the conflict, around a third of the total coalition deaths.

Mr Bailey also pointed to the high number of deaths per capita suffered by Denmark, which sent troops to fight alongside the British in Helmand province but has now had to fend off Mr Trump’s bid to annex Greenland.

He said: “As I reminded the US forces I served with on the 4th of July in 2008, we were there because of a shared belief, articulated at America’s founding, that free people have inalienable rights and should not live under tyranny.

“That belief underpinned the response to 9/11, and it is worth reflecting on now.”

America remains the only country to have invoked the collective security provisions of Nato’s Article 5, with the alliance to provide support to the US after the terrorist attacks of September 11 2001.