Trump under fire for claiming NATO allies avoided Afghanistan frontlin

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Donald Trump has been criticised for claiming NATO troops stayed “a little off the front lines” in Afghanistan.

In an interview with Fox News in Davos, the US president repeated his criticism of NATO, saying he was not “sure” the alliance would “be there if we ever needed them”.

He added: “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.”

Sky News US correspondent David Blevins said the comments would be deemed “grossly offensive” by allies who fought alongside the US.

America is the only NATO member to have invoked the collective security provisions of its Article 5 clause – that an attack against one member is an attack on all.

That came after the 9/11 terror attacks of 2001, which led to a US-led invasion of Afghanistan.

The UK suffered the second-highest number of military deaths in the Afghanistan conflict at 457. The US saw 2,461 deaths.

America’s allies suffered 1,160 deaths during the conflict – around a third of the total coalition deaths.

Draft dodger Trump’s words will be gut punch to troops and their families

Trump’s words will be a gut punch for the families of the 1,160 non-American coalition soldiers who were killed in Afghanistan.

It will be a gut punch too for the thousands more who were wounded fighting this war, many left without limbs.

And it will be a gut punch to the soldiers of so many nations who stood up to fight alongside American soldiers on the frontlines and for whom not a day will pass without them thinking about their experiences in that war.

Afghanistan was America’s war. America’s friends stood up and answered the call for support after 9/11. For over two decades…

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