Trump comments on NATO’s Afghan involvement angers UK
US President Donald Trump has caused anger and distress in the UK by suggesting that NATO countries’ troops were staying away from the front lines during the war in Afghanistan.
In an interview with Fox Business Network in Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday, Trump said he was not sure the NATO military alliance would be there to support the United States when asked.
“I’ve always said, are they going to be there if we need them, and that’s really the biggest test, and I’m not sure about that,” Trump said.
“We never needed them, we never asked them for anything. You know, they say they sent troops to Afghanistan or something, and they did, they stayed back a little bit, a little bit from the front lines.”
.@POTUS on NATO: “We never really asked for anything from them… We’ve been very good to Europe… but it should be a two-way street – and it should be a lot more of a two-way street.” pic.twitter.com/h23k7G6TFk— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) January 22, 2026
The reaction was harsh in the UK, which supported the US in Afghanistan after the September 11, 2001 attacks and, more controversially, in Iraq two years later.
Then-Prime Minister Tony Blair said after 9/11 that Britain would “stand shoulder to shoulder” with the US in response to Al Qaeda attacks.
More than 150,000 British soldiers served in Afghanistan in the years after the US-led 2001 invasion; this was the largest contingent after the United States, and 457 died during the campaign.
“These British troops must be remembered for who they were: heroes who gave their lives to serve our nation,” British Defense Secretary John Healey said.
Opposition Conservative MP Ben Obese-Jecty, who was in Afghanistan as a captain in the Royal Yorkshire Regiment, said it was “sad to see the sacrifice of our nation and our NATO partners being carried out so cheaply by the US president”.
This wasn’t the first time Trump downplayed NATO members’ commitments in the past few days.
“They’re a little bit left behind, a little bit out of the front lines.”President Trump would do well to hear the names of those we lost in Sangin during Herrick 11. His denigration of the sacrifices of these soldiers in Afghanistan tells us the measure of the man pic.twitter.com/yWi70iLlV4— Ben Obese-Jecty MP (@BenObeseJecty) January 23, 2026
This became one of his key lines of attack as he stepped up threats to seize Greenland, a semi-autonomous Danish territory.
The only time Article 5 of NATO’s founding agreement was used was in response to the September 11 attacks.
The article is the basic mutual defense clause that obliges all member states to come to the aid of another member whose sovereignty or territorial integrity may be threatened.
“When America needed us after 9/11, we were there,” said former Danish platoon commander Martin Tamm Andersen.
Denmark is a staunch ally of the United States.
Forty-four Danish soldiers were killed in Afghanistan; this was the highest death rate per capita among coalition forces.
Eight more people died in Iraq.
Trump’s threat to impose tariffs on European countries that contradict his goal of purchasing Greenland has raised questions about the future of NATO.
Although Trump backtracked after the meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, in which he said they created the “framework” of an agreement on the security of the Arctic, trans-Atlantic relations took a blow.
His latest comments are unlikely to improve relations.
Diane Dernie, whose son Ben Parkinson was seriously injured when a British Army Land Rover hit a mine in Afghanistan in 2006, said Trump’s latest comments were “the biggest insult” and called on British Prime Minister Keir Starmer to oppose Trump.
“Call him,” he said.
“Stand with those who fight for this country and our flag because this is beyond belief.”
