Donald Trump sparks outrage by claiming Nato troops avoided Afghanistan frontline
Nato allies of US have been outraged after Donald Trump claimed that their troops stayed ‘a little off the front line’ in Afghanistan.
The US president sparked anger after undermining the military alliance with his comments to Fox News in Davos yesterday, claiming that the Nato troops avoided action in the fight against the Taliban.
He said he was not ‘sure’ that Nato would ‘be there if we ever needed them.’
Trump 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.’
Allies in the UK across the political spectrum hit back at the president.
Emily Thornberry MP, the Labour chair of the foreign affairs committee, labelled it an ‘absolute insult’ to the 457 British troops killed in the conflict with the Taliban.
She told BBC’s Question Time that the UK troops have ‘always been there whenever the Americans have wanted us.’
Thornberry called Trump ‘a man who has never seen any action’ but who is now a commander in chief.
Meanwhile, Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey said: ‘How dare he question their sacrifice?’
Tory MP Ben Obese-Jecty, who served in both Iraq and Afghanistan, said: ‘It’s sad to see our nation’s sacrifice, and that of our NATO partners, held so cheaply by the President of the United States.’
He said he doesn’t believe US military personnel share the president’s view, adding that ‘his words do them a disservice as our closest military allies.’
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