U.S. President Donald Trump came under fire after claiming that NATO allies stayed “off the front lines” during the war in Afghanistan, with U.K. government and political leaders across the spectrum calling the remarks false, insulting and deeply offensive to the hundreds of British troops who died fighting alongside U.S. forces.
A spokesperson for the British government said Trump was “wrong” to suggest NATO allies avoided combat, noting that hundreds of British service members were killed and many more seriously wounded while serving alongside U.S. troops.
“Hundreds of British personnel died in Afghanistan, and many hundreds more suffered life-changing injuries,” the spokesperson said, adding that they fought “alongside the U.S. and our allies.”
Defense Secretary John Healey emphasized that NATO’s collective defense clause – Article 5 – has only been triggered once, following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the U.S., and said the alliance answered Washington’s call.
“More than 450 British personnel lost their lives in Afghanistan,” Healey wrote on the social media platform X. “Those British troops should be remembered for who they were: heroes who gave their lives in service of our nation.”
