Watch: ‘It’s incorrect’ – US veterans react to Trump remarks on Nato in Afghanistan
Background:
President Donald Trump’s recent comments on NATO and US involvement in Afghanistan have prompted an outcry from veterans. The president suggested that NATO allies avoided front-line combat during the war in Afghanistan, despite a significant number of US troops being deployed there.
The remarks came after Trump said he would be “proud” to see NATO countries pay more for their own defense and insisted they are not contributing enough to their shared security.
“It’s incorrect,” said retired Army Major General Ben Hodges, a former NATO commander who is now director of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington DC. “NATO allies have been fighting alongside us in Afghanistan since 2001.”
The veterans reacted with outrage at the president’s remarks. Hodges, a retired US general who was commander-in-chief of NATO from 2009 to 2011, said: “It’s incorrect for the president to suggest that NATO allies have not been fighting alongside us in Afghanistan.”
“NATO has provided security assistance and intelligence support since the early 1990s, including during the US-led military operation against the Taliban,” he added. “It’s incorrect for the president to suggest that NATO allies have not been fighting alongside us in Afghanistan.”
Hodges said that the US has spent billions of dollars on its own defense and has been unable to pay its bills due to budget constraints.
“We have a $700 billion national debt, and we’re spending billions of dollars every year on our own defense,” he said. “That doesn’t leave much money for the NATO allies who are doing their part.”
Hodges also criticized Trump’s comments as being “misleading” and “false”.
“It’s misleading to suggest that NATO allies have not been fighting alongside us in Afghanistan,” he said. “The president is making a false statement.”
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg responded to Trump’s remarks by saying the comments “show how little President Trump understands about NATO and our work”.
“It’s very important for President Trump to recognize that we have inv