Trump ‘wrong’ to claim Nato troops avoided Afghanistan front line, Downing Street says

Donald Trump was “wrong” to diminish the role of Nato and British troops in Afghanistan, Downing Street has said, after the US president claimed allies stayed away from the front line.

Trump claimed that Nato sent “some troops” but “stayed a little back, a little off the front lines”, sparking outrage from veterans and their families.

The mother of severely injured soldier Ben Parkinson deemed it the “ultimate insult”.

The UK was among several allies to join the US in Afghanistan after Nato’s collective security clause was invoked for the first and only time in its history following the 9/11 attacks. During the conflict, 457 British service personnel were killed.

Article 5 of Nato states that an attack on one member is considered an attack against all.

But Trump told Fox News on Thursday that he was “not sure” the military alliance would be there for the US “if we ever needed them”.

“We’ve never needed them,” he said, adding: “We have never really asked anything of them.”

“They’ll say they sent some troops to Afghanistan,” he said, “and they did, they stayed a little back, a little off the front lines”.

Responding on Friday, the prime minister’s official spokesperson said: “The president was wrong to diminish the role of Nato troops, including British forces.”

He added that Nato troops made sacrifices “in the service of collective security and in response to an attack on our ally”.

Most of the 457 British troops who died serving in Afghanistan over a period of nearly 20 years were killed in Helmand.

Hundreds more suffered injuries and lost limbs – including Cpl Andy Reid who lost both his legs and his right arm after stepping on an improvised explosive device (IED) in Afghanistan.

“Not a day goes by when we’re not in some kind of pain, physically or mentally reflecting on that conflict,” he told BBC Breakfast.

Reid recalled working with American soldiers during his time in Afghanistan, adding: “If they were on the front line and I was stood next to them, clearly we were on the front line as well.”

The US invaded Afghanistan in October 2001 to oust the Taliban, whom they said were harbouring Osama Bin Laden and other al-Qaeda figures linked to the 9/11 attacks. Nato nations contributed troops and military equipment to the US-led war.

More than 3,500 coalition soldiers had died as of 2021, when the US withdrew from the country – about two-thirds of them Americans.

The UK suffered the second-highest number of military deaths in the conflict behind the US, which saw 2,461 fatalities.

Defence Secretary John Healey said the UK and Nato allies had “answered the US call” in 2001 and that British troops who were killed should be remembered as “heroes who gave their lives in service of our nation”.

Al Carns, minister for the armed forces who served several tours in Afghanistan, said Trump’s comments were “utterly ridiculous” and that “the world rallied to the support of the US”.

Far from staying away from the front line, Britain and Canada placed troops in the most dangerous provinces of all – the Taliban heartlands of Helmand and Kandahar.

In Helmand, the scene of the heaviest fighting, British troops were joined by Danish and Estonian soldiers. All suffered casualties in the heat of battle.

Diane Dernie, whose son Ben Parkinson suffered severe injuries when an Army Land Rover hit a mine near Musa Qala in 2006, said Trump’s words were “so insulting” and hard to hear.

The 41-year-old is currently recuperating after another operation, but Dernie told the BBC that Trump’s comments showed “a childish man trying to deflect from his own actions”.

Dernie has called on Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to “stand up for his own armed forces” and call out the US president.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said the sacrifice of British and Nato troops deserved respect and she pushed for Starmer to ask for an apology from Trump .

“It’s complete nonsense,” Badenoch said. “I spoke to parents of young men who have lost their lives. It is a disgrace to denigrate their memory like that.

“There is too much careless talk from President Trump. He clearly doesn’t know the history of what happened. We mustn’t have these sorts of throwaway remarks.”

The BBC has approached the White House and the Pentagon for comment.

Elsewhere, there has been a swathe of political reaction from across Westminster, including Foreign Affairs Committee chair and Labour MP Emily Thornberry.

She told BBC Question Time on Thursday that Trump “has deliberately been trying to undermine us, which has been trying to undermine Nato”.

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey criticised the US president’s remarks and said: “Trump avoided military service five times. How dare he question their sacrifice.”

Trump received five deferments from a military draft during the Vietnam War – four for academic reasons and one for bone spurs, a calcium build-up in the heels.

Former Conservative Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick, who recently defected to Reform UK, said the comments were “offensive and wrong”.

During his second term in office, Trump has repeatedly criticised Nato, often accusing its member states of not spending enough on defence.

In the last few weeks, Trump has made comments about acquiring Greenland – a semi-autonomous territory of fellow Nato ally Denmark.

Trump’s repeated remarks over ownership, threats of military action and tariffs against traditional European allies have rattled the transatlantic treaty.