Sir Ed Davey has hit out at Donald Trump over the president’s claim that Nato troops stayed “a little off the front lines” in Afghanistan.
Speaking to Fox News on Thursday, Mr Trump renewed 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.”
457 British troops lost their lives in Afghanistan.
— Ed Davey (@EdwardJDavey) January 22, 2026
Trump avoided military service 5 times.
How dare he question their sacrifice. Farage and all the others still fawning over Trump should be ashamed. pic.twitter.com/4xmsAYnt76
His remarks brought outrage from the Liberal Democrat leader, who pointed to the 457 British service personnel killed during the war in Afghanistan.
In a post on social media, Sir Ed said: “Trump avoided military service 5 times.
“How dare he question their sacrifice. Farage and all the others still fawning over Trump should be ashamed.”
Conservative MP Ben Obese-Jecty, who served in Afghanistan as a captain in the Royal Yorkshire Regiment, said it was “sad to see our nation’s sacrifice, and that of our Nato partners, held so cheaply by the president of the United States”.
He said: “I saw first hand the sacrifices made by British soldiers I served alongside in Sangin where we suffered horrific casualties, as did the US Marines the following year.
“I don’t believe US military personnel share the view of President Trump; his words do them a disservice as our closest military allies.”
Labour’s Dame Emily Thornberry, chairwoman of the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, said Mr Trump’s comments were “an insult to 457 families who lost someone in Afghanistan” and “so much more than a mistake”.
Appearing on the BBC’s Question Time, she said: “How dare he say we weren’t on the front line, how dare he.
“We have always been there whenever the Americans have wanted us, we have always been there.”
Calvin Bailey, a Labour MP and former RAF officer who served alongside US special operations units in Afghanistan, told the Press Association Mr Trump’s claim “bears no resemblance to the reality experienced by those of us who served there”.
He said: “As I reminded the US Forces I served with on the 4th of July in 2008, we were there because of a shared belief, articulated at America’s founding, that free people have inalienable rights and should not live under tyranny.
“That belief underpinned the response to 9/11, and it is worth reflecting on now.”
The UK suffered the second highest number of military deaths in the Afghanistan conflict, behind the US, which saw 2,461 deaths.
In total, America’s allies suffered 1,160 deaths in the conflict, around a third of the total coalition deaths.
America remains the only country to have invoked the collective security provisions of Nato’s Article 5, with the alliance to provide support to the US after the terrorist attacks of September 11 2001.
