Denmark's Frederiksen slams Trump's Afghanistan NATO statements
Danish PM Mette Frederiksen condemned Donald Trump’s questioning of NATO’s role in Afghanistan, calling it “unacceptable” given Denmark’s significant losses in the conflict and historical invocation of Article 5.
- Diplomacy
- DPA
- Published Date: 03:59 | 24 January 2026
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has criticized US President Donald Trump for his controversial statements regarding NATO troops in Afghanistan.
She said it was "unacceptable" for Trump to question the efforts of allied soldiers, the Ritzau news agency reported on Saturday.
Frederiksen stressed that Denmark suffered the greatest losses relative to its population size in the conflict.
According to Ritzau, 44 Danish soldiers lost their lives during the mission following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the US, 37 of them as a result of direct combat operations.
In an interview with Fox News, Trump again claimed that the United States had never needed NATO. He suggested several other NATO countries had sent troops to Afghanistan, but "they stayed a little back, a little off the front lines."
Criticism of these statements has already come from the United Kingdom and Poland.
After the Islamist attacks on September 11, 2001, the US activated Article 5 of the NATO treaty to seek assistance from its allies.
This led to other NATO countries like Germany and the United Kingdom participating in the war against the Taliban and the terrorist organization al-Qaeda.
It was the first and only time in NATO's history that Article 5 has been invoked.