Trump abandons NATO allies

London- European military veterans, families of the fallen and politicians have expressed outrage after President Trump claimed that the United States had “never needed” its NATO allies and that allied troops had been kept “a little bit off the front lines” during the 20-year war in Afghanistan.

“The only time NATO enacted Article 5 was after the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States, and the world came together to support the United States,” Alistair Carns, Armed Forces Minister in the U.K. government and a veteran who served five tours in Afghanistan alongside U.S. troops, said in a video posted on social media Friday. “We shed blood, sweat and tears together, and not everyone came home. I think these are bonds forged by fire, protecting the United States or shared interests, but really protecting democracy in general.”

According to the Pentagon, more than 2,200 American soldiers died in Afghanistan. The Reuters news agency says 457 British soldiers, 150 Canadians and 90 French soldiers died alongside them. Denmark lost 44 soldiers in Afghanistan: on a per capita basis, about the same death rate as the United States.

“There are two great sayings worth remembering,” Carns said in his video in response to Trump’s comments. “Number one: ‘There’s only one thing worse than working with allies. It’s working without them.’ And when you do, always remember: ‘Never above, never below, always beside.'”

A spokesman for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Friday that Trump “was wrong to diminish the role of NATO troops” in Afghanistan.

Later Friday, Starmer called the comments “insulting and frankly appalling.”

“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 news agency.

Trump has “crossed a red line,” he said. “We paid in blood for this alliance. We truly sacrificed our own lives.”

Lucy Aldridge, the mother of the youngest British soldier killed in Afghanistan, told the BBC she was “deeply upset” by Trump’s comments. His son William Aldridge was just 18 when he died in a bomb explosion in 2009, while trying to save his fellow soldiers.

“The families of those who lost their lives in that conflict live the trauma every day. Not only am I deeply offended, but I am actually deeply disgusted,” Aldridge said. “This is not just a mistake of expression; I imagine it has deeply offended all NATO members who sent troops to fight in Afghanistan and certainly the families of those who never returned home.”

Former British Army chief Lord Richard Dannatt called Trump’s comments “scandalous.”

“Well, frankly, one was stunned, because they are [Mr. Trump’s comments] so objectively incorrect. Absolutely disrespectful to our nation, to our armed forces and to the families of the 457 British servicemen and women who lost their lives in Afghanistan,” Dannatt told the BBC.

“The comments he made… are totally disrespectful, wrong and outrageous. It makes you wonder if he’s really fit for the job he’s apparently doing,” Dannatt added.

“We Europeans need to do more, and if there’s one positive thing that Donald Trump has done in his various ramblings over the last year, it’s actually making that point,” the former UK army chief said. “European governments really need to listen, stand up now and find the money needed to increase our military capacity, not because we want to fight a war, but because we need to deter further aggression.”

News themezone asked the White House on Friday about Trump’s comments about the role America’s NATO allies played in the war in Afghanistan and criticism directed at him.

Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly responded with the following statement: “President Trump is right: America’s contributions to NATO dwarf those of other countries, and its success in meeting a five percent spending pledge from NATO allies is helping Europe take greater responsibility for its own defense. The United States is the only NATO partner that can protect Green Earthand the President is promoting NATO interests by doing so.”