NATO Veterans Respond to Trump's Claims About Afghan Service

Veterans' Reactions to Trump's Statements

By Sam Tabahriti

Political Backlash

LONDON, Jan 23 (Reuters) - Veterans from across Europe hit back at U.S. President Donald Trump's suggestion that they had stayed off the front lines in Afghanistan, saying on Friday that hundreds of their comrades had died fighting alongside American forces.

Historical Context of NATO

Senior politicians joined the criticism, with the British Prime Minister's office saying Trump had been "wrong to diminish the role of NATO troops" during two decades of war.

Personal Sacrifices of Troops

Trump told Fox News on Thursday the United States had "never needed" the transatlantic alliance and accused allies of staying "a little off the front lines" in Afghanistan.

'WE PAID IN BLOOD FOR THIS ALLIANCE'

"We expect an apology for this statement," Roman Polko, a retired Polish general and former special forces commander who served in Afghanistan and Iraq, told Reuters in an interview.

Trump had "crossed a red line," he added. "We paid with blood for this alliance. We truly sacrificed our own lives."

Britain's veterans minister, Alistair Carns, whose own military service included five tours including alongside American troops in Afghanistan, called Trump's claims "utterly ridiculous".

"We shed blood, sweat and tears together. Not everybody came home," he said in a video posted on X.

Richard Moore, the former head of Britain’s MI6 intelligence service, said he, like many MI6 officers, had operated in dangerous environments with “brave and highly esteemed” CIA counterparts and had been proud to do so with Britain’s closest ally.

Under NATO's founding treaty, members are bound by a collective-defence clause, Article 5, which treats an attack on one member as an attack on all.

It has been invoked only once - after the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington. European allies responded by joining the U.S.-led mission in Afghanistan.

POLISH SACRIFICE 'MUST NOT BE DIMINISHED'

Some politicians noted that Trump had avoided the draft for the Vietnam War, citing bone spurs in his feet.

"Trump avoided military service 5 times," Ed Davey, leader of Britain's centrist Liberal Democrats, wrote on X. "How dare he question their sacrifice."

Poland's sacrifice "will never be forgotten and must not be diminished", Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said.

Poland is a reliable and proven ally, and nothing will change that," he said on X.

Trump's comments were "ignorant", said Rasmus Jarlov, an opposition Conservative Party member of Denmark's parliament.

British defence minister John Healey said the United States had relied on that solidarity and the British troops who served during the 20-year campaign should be remembered as "heroes who gave their lives in service of our nation".

The United States lost about 2,460 troops in Afghanistan, according to the U.S. Department of Defense. A total of 457 British military personnel were killed from the more than 150,000 who were deployed.

More than 150 Canadians were also killed along with 90 French service personnel, while Denmark - which has been under heavy pressure from Trump to sell its semi-autonomous region of Greenland to the U.S. - lost 44 troops, one of NATO's highest per-capita death rates.

(Reporting by Sam Tabahriti in London, Stine Jacobsen in Copenhagen and Terje Solsvik in Oslo, Malgorzata Wojtunik in Gdansk, additional reporting by Andrew MacAskill; Writing by Sam Tabahriti; editing by Gareth Jones and Andrew Heavens)