"The US president told Fox News on Thursday that he was "not sure" the military alliance would be there for America "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"."
"Thornberry told the BBC's Question Time that the remarks were "much more than a mistake". "It's an absolute insult... 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," she said, calling Trump "a man who has never seen any action" but was now "commander in chief and knows nothing about how it is that America has been defended"."
Donald Trump questioned NATO's willingness to support the US and said allied troops "stayed a little off the front lines" in Afghanistan. He said the US had been "very good to Europe" and insisted alliances must be reciprocal. UK politicians and veterans reacted angrily, citing the 457 British service personnel killed in the conflict and describing the remarks as an insult to their sacrifice. Labour MP Emily Thornberry called the comments "an absolute insult" and accused Trump of being ignorant about defence. Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey and a Conservative MP and veteran also condemned the remarks as undermining NATO.
Read at www.bbc.com
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