00:00I consider President Trump's remarks to be insulting and, frankly, appalling.
00:06British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Friday blasted comments from U.S. President Donald Trump about NATO troops in Afghanistan,
00:13where he claimed they stayed off the front lines in an interview on Fox Business Network's Mornings with Maria.
00:19We've never needed them. We have never really asked anything of them.
00:24You know, they'll say they sent some troops to Afghanistan or this or that, and they did.
00:28They stayed a little back, a little off the front lines.
00:31But we've been very good to Europe and to many other countries.
00:37The U.K. lost 457 service personnel in Afghanistan, its deadliest overseas war since the 1950s.
00:45And Starmer was not alone in condemning the American president's remarks.
00:49Here's retired British Colonel Stuart Toodle.
00:51My message to Donald Trump would be, look, you need to turn around and say these were unfortunate remarks.
00:57I didn't mean to denigrate the contribution that certainly the United Kingdom has made to the United States fighting and operations in places like Iraq, Afghanistan and other theaters.
01:10Trump's comments added to already strained relations with the NATO allies over his ambition to acquire Greenland.
01:17Under NATO's founding treaty, members are bound by a collective defense clause known as Article 5, which treats an attack on one member as an attack on all.
01:26The world rallied to the support of the U.S.
01:28British Armed Forces Minister Al Karn said the only time NATO invoked Article 5 was after the September 11th attacks.
01:35On Afghanistan, frankly, this is utterly ridiculous.
01:39Many courageous and honorable service personnel from many nations fought on the front line.
01:43Many fought way beyond it.
01:45I'd served five tours in Afghanistan, many alongside my American colleagues.
01:49We shed blood, sweat and tears together.
01:51Not everybody came home.
01:54Several other countries lost troops in Afghanistan, including Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Denmark.
02:01We fought and bled alongside our American brothers in arms.
02:06So it's sad to hear these words.
02:11Danish military veteran Niels Jespersen served in Afghanistan, and he said the names of three members of his unit are inscribed on the walls of this monument in Denmark honoring fallen soldiers.
02:22It saddens me, but if anyone knows something about staying away from the front line, it is Trump.
02:27So he does talk with some expertise on that area.
02:31But I think it mostly saddens me.
02:34I know that they don't represent all Americans, but I also know that some of my former colleagues have voted for Trump.
02:42And probably not because they wanted him to belittle his allies.
02:48But nonetheless, here we are.
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