Donald Trump famously doesn’t have a high opinion of soldiers who die in combat. Back in 2018, multiple first-hand sources confirmed that he personally canceled a 2018 visit to an American military cemetery in France, saying: “Why would I go to that cemetery? It’s filled with losers” and calling the dead “suckers” who “didn’t win”.
Big words, Mr Bone Spurs! Now he’s planted his big, stupid foot right in it again by claiming that NATO troops were too cowardly to fight on the frontlines of Afghanistan. In an interview with Fox News, Trump has casually dismissed the hundreds of lives sacrificed by America’s allies:
BREAKING: Trump denigrates the service of troops from NATO nations who fought alongside Americans in Afghanistan. He says they stayed off the frontlines. This is a lie. Over 1,000 NATO troops were killed in Afghanistan. Ignorant and shameful. pic.twitter.com/pf52DCNW5p
— Trump Lie Tracker (Commentary Account) (@MAGALieTracker) January 22, 2026
“I’ve always said, will they be there if we ever needed them. And that’s really the ultimate test and um, I’m not sure of that. I know that we would have been there or we would be there. But will they be there and uh, let’s hope that never happens. We’ve never needed them. We have never… really asked anything of them.
Y’know, they’ll say they sent some troops to Afghanistan or this or that and they did. They stayed a little back, a little off the front lines.”
America’s allies are horrified, particularly as the U.S. is the only country to have ever invoked Article 5 of NATO, in the wake of 9/11, which states that “an armed attack against one NATO member shall be considered an attack against them all”, effectively summoning them to join them in the war in Afghanistan.
“Trump’s comments are as offensive as they are inaccurate”
604 troops died aiding America’s mission in Afghanistan, with 457 of those British. As such, British politicians across the political spectrum – including those usually more sympathetic to Trump – are furious. Conservative MP Ben Obese-Jecty, who served in Afghanistan, 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”.
Tan Dhesi, British defence committee chairman, said Trump’s comments were “appalling” and “an insult to our brave British servicemen and women, who risked life and limb to help our allies, with many making the ultimate sacrifice”.
Veteran Stephen Stewart summed it up:
“Trump’s comments are as offensive as they are inaccurate. It’s hugely ironic that someone who allegedly dodged the draft for the Vietnam war should make such a disgraceful statement. He has desecrated the memory of hundreds of British soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice in Afghanistan, people who we called friends and comrades. If he was a man of honour, he would get down on bended knees to ask forgiveness from the families of the fallen.”
Well, he isn’t a man of honor, so don’t stay up hoping for this to happen. And, once again, all this from a man who wormed his way out of having to serve in Vietnam because of “bone spurs”, or, as it’s otherwise termed, “rich kiditus”.
