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Downing Street has said US President Donald Trump was “wrong” to claim that Nato troops avoided frontline combat in the war in Afghanistan in the latest signs of strain in the relationship between Washington and its European allies.
In an interview in Davos on Thursday, Trump said of allied nations that “they’ll say they sent some troops to Afghanistan . . . and they did, they stayed a little back, a little off the front lines”.
He also told Fox that he was “not sure” Nato would meet the “ultimate test” of defending the US if it were under threat.
The prime minister’s official spokesperson said on Friday: “The president was wrong to diminish the role of Nato troops, including British forces in Afghanistan. Following the 9/11 attacks on the US, Article 5 of the Nato Treaty was invoked for the first time and British forces served alongside American and other allied troops in sustained combat operations.”
Asked if Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer would like Trump to apologise, the government official said: “I’m not going to speak for the president. We are incredibly proud of our armed forces and their service and sacrifice.”
Trump’s comments follow the row over Greenland, with the president threatening his European allies with fresh tariffs as he demanded control over the Arctic island.
Downing Street’s intervention came shortly after Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch branded Trump’s statement as “flat-out nonsense” in a post on X.
She said: “British, Canadian and Nato troops fought and died alongside the US for 20 years . . . Their sacrifice deserves respect not denigration.”
General Sir Richard Barrons, a co-author of the UK government’s latest strategic defence review and a former commander of Joint Forces Command, told the FT that Trump was “not just wrong, but painfully wrong” in his remarks.
“The fact an American president can talk like that is likely to do more to change the calculus on defence spending and reliance on the US than lengthy papers on defence strategy. There are facts, figures and reason, but it’s just as much about emotion,” Barrons said.
In a Truth Social post late on Thursday night, the US president went even further in questioning Nato, writing that the US “should have put Nato to the test: invoked Article 5, and forced Nato to come here and protect our Southern Border from further invasions of illegal immigrants”.
Nigel Farage, leader of Reform UK, echoed Starmer on X, writing that Trump was “wrong” about Afghanistan.
“When the decision was made we went in with America and the coalition of the willing. We stayed with America for 20 years, we proportionally spent the same money as America, we lost the same number of lives as America pro rata,” he said in a video from Davos published on the platform.
Liberal Democrat defence spokesperson James MacCleary MP called for Starmer to summon the US ambassador over what he called an “insult to our brave troops”.
He added: “Trump’s lies about the British soldiers who laid down their lives in Afghanistan are disgraceful. The president shows his true colours in denigrating the best of us — those who gave the ultimate sacrifice.”
Armed forces minister Al Carns, a former marine who served and led during four tours in Afghanistan, said in a video on X: “This is utterly ridiculous. Many courageous and honourable service personnel from many nations fought on the front lines and beyond.”
