UK's Starmer slams Trump remarks on non-US NATO troops in Afghanistan as 'insulting' and 'appalling'

LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has signaled that U.S. President Donald Trump should apologize for his false assertion that troops from non-U.S. NATO countries avoided the front line during the Afghanistan war, describing Trump's remarks as “insulting” and “appalling.”

Trump said that he wasn't sure NATO would be there to support the United States if and when requested, provoking outrage and distress across the United Kingdom on Friday, regardless of individuals' political persuasion.

“We’ve never needed them, we have never really asked anything of them," Trump said of non-US troops in an interview with Fox News in Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday. "You 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.”

In October 2001, nearly a month after the Sept. 11 attacks, the U.S. led an international coalition in Afghanistan to destroy al-Qaida, which had used the country as its base, and the group's Taliban hosts. Alongside the U.S. were troops from dozens of countries, including from NATO, whose mutual-defense mandate had been triggered for the first time after the attacks on New York and Washington.

In the U.K., the reaction to Trump's comments was raw.

Starmer paid tribute to the 457 British personnel who died and to those have been left with profound life-long injuries.

“I will never forget their courage, their bravery and the sacrifice they made for their country,” Starmer said. “I consider President Trump’s remarks to be insulting and frankly appalling and I am not surprised they have caused such hurt to the loved ones of those who were killed or injured and, in fact, across the country.”

After 9/11, then Prime Minister Tony Blair said that the U.K. would “stand shoulder to shoulder” with the U.S. in response to the al-Qaida attacks. British troops took a key role in many operations during the Afghan war until their withdrawal in 2014, particularly in Helmand Province in the south of the country. American troops remained in Afghanistan until their chaotic withdrawal in 2021 when the Taliban returned to power.

More than 150,000 British troops served in Afghanistan in the years after the invasion, the largest contingent after the American one.

Ben Obese-Jecty, a lawmaker who served in Afghanistan as a captain in the Royal Yorkshire Regiment, said that 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."

Anger was further fueled by the fact that the comments came from someone who didn't serve in the Vietnam War at a time when he was eligible.

“It’s hugely ironic that someone who allegedly dodged the draft for the Vietnam War should make such a disgraceful statement," said Stephen Stewart, author of “The Accidental Soldier,” an account of his time embedded with British troops in Afghanistan.

Trump received a deferment that allowed him to not serve in Vietnam because of bone spurs, but he has been unable to remember in which foot, leading to accusations of draft dodging.

It wasn't the first time that Trump downplayed the commitment of NATO countries over the past few days. It has been one of his pivotal lines of attack as he escalated his threats to seize Greenland, a semiautonomous territory belonging to Denmark.

Trump’s allegation that NATO countries won’t be there when requested stands in stark contrast to reality.

The only time Article 5 of NATO’s founding treaty has been used was in response to the 9/11 attacks on the U.S. The article is the key mutual defense clause, obliging all member countries to come to the aid of another member whose sovereignty or territorial integrity might be under threat.

“When America needed us after 9/11 we were there,” former Danish platoon commander Martin Tamm Andersen said.

Denmark has been a stalwart ally of the U.S. in Afghanistan, with 44 Danish soldiers killed there — the highest per capita death toll among coalition forces. Eight more died in Iraq.

The latest controversy surrounding Trump comes at the end of a week when he has faced criticism — and pushback — for his threats to Greenland.

Trump also threatened to slap tariffs on European nations opposed to his ambitions to annex Greenland, which raised questions over the future of NATO. And though Trump backed down after a meeting with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte in which he said they formed the “framework” for a deal over Arctic security, trans-Atlantic relations have taken a hit.

His latest comments are unlikely to improve relations.

Diane Dernie, whose son Ben Parkinson suffered horrific injuries when a British Army Land Rover hit a mine in Afghanistan in 2006, said that Trump's latest comments were “the ultimate insult” and called on Starmer to stand up to Trump over them.

“Call him out,” she said. “Make a stand for those who fought for this country and for our flag, because it’s just beyond belief."

Taking her up on that, Starmer said “what I say to Diane is, if I had misspoken in that way or said those words, I would certainly apologize and I’d apologize to her.”

Anders Kongshaug contributed to this report from Copenhagen, Denmark.

FILE - Mourners react as funeral hearses drive the coffins of four British soldiers through the town of Wootton Bassett in England, Thursday, July 22, 2010, after their bodies were repatriated to the UK after they were killed in Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham, file)

FILE - Relatives of British Army Private Douglas Halliday, of the 1st Battalion The Mercian Regiment, one of the seven British soldiers killed in Afghanistan, line a street as his coffin is driven through the town of Wootton Bassett, England, following repatriation, Tuesday, June 29, 2010. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis, file)

FILE - The coffins of seven British soldiers killed in Afghanistan, are driven through the town of Wootton Bassett, England, after repatriation to Britain, Tuesday, June 29, 2010. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis, file)

President Donald Trump discuses bruising on his hand with reporters aboard Air Force One after leaving the World Economic Forum in Davos for Washington, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

President Donald Trump speaks with reporters aboard Air Force One after leaving the World Economic Forum in Davos for Washington, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

President Donald Trump speaks with reporters aboard Air Force One after leaving the World Economic Forum in Davos for Washington, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A vast network of labor unions, progressive organizations and clergy urged Minnesotans to stay away from work, school and stores Friday to protest immigration enforcement operations, even as subzero temperatures beset the state.

Minneapolis and St. Paul have seen daily protests since Renee Good was fatally shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer on Jan. 7. Federal law enforcement officers have surged in the Twin Cities for weeks and have repeatedly squared off with community members and activists who track their movements.

Organizers said Friday morning that more than 700 businesses across the state have closed for the day in solidarity with the protest -- from a bookstore in tiny Grand Marais near the Canadian border to the landmark Guthrie Theater in downtown Minneapolis.

“We’re achieving something historic,” said Kate Havelin of Indivisible Twin Cities, one of the more than 100 groups that is mobilizing. The demonstration coincides with a blast of cold air hitting the Upper Midwest and ahead of a severe winter storm that is expected to affect millions.

On Friday, Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino sought to shift the narrative from that of a 5-year-old boy detained by ICE officers in Minneapolis by attacking the news media for, in his view, insufficient coverage of children who have lost parents to violence by people in the country illegally. After briefly mentioning the 5-year-old during a news conference, he talked about a mother of five who was killed in August 2023.

On Thursday, a prominent civil rights attorney and at least two other people were arrested for their involvement in an anti-immigration enforcement protest that disrupted a Sunday service at a church in St. Paul. They remained in federal custody Friday morning.

Organizers hope Friday’s mobilization will be the largest coordinated protest action to date, with a march in downtown Minneapolis planned for Friday afternoon. Earlier Friday, the temperature in Minneapolis was minus 21 with a wind chill of minus 40 (minus 29 Celsius with a wind chill of minus 40 Celsius).

Havelin compared the presence of immigration officers in Minnesota to the winter weather warnings.

“Minnesotans understand that when we’re in a snow emergency … we all have to respond and it makes us do things differently,” she said. “And what’s happening with ICE in our community, in our state, means that we can’t respond as business as usual.”

Somali businesses especially have lost sales during the enforcement surge as workers and customers, fearing detention, stay at home.

Many schools were planning to close Friday, but cited different reasons. The University of Minnesota and the St. Paul public school district said there would be no in-person classes because of the extreme cold. Minneapolis Public Schools were scheduled to be closed “for a teacher record keeping day.”

Clergy planned to join the march as well as hold prayer services and fasting, according to a delegation of representatives of faith traditions including Buddhist, Jewish, Lutheran and Muslim.

Bishop Dwayne Royster, leader of the progressive organization Faith in Action, arrived in Minnesota on Wednesday from Washington, D.C.

“We want ICE out of Minnesota,” he said. “We want them out of all the cities around the country where they’re exercising extreme overreach.”

Royster said at least 50 of his network’s faith-based organizers were joining the protest. About 10 were traveling from Los Angeles while others from the same group planned a solidarity rally in California, said one of the organizers there.

“It was a very harrowing experience,” said the Rev. Jennifer Gutierrez of the large immigration enforcement operation in Los Angeles last year. “We believe God is on the side of migrants.”

Associated Press journalists Jack Brook and Sarah Raza in Minneapolis, and Tiffany Stanley in Washington contributed.

Candles burn around a poem written by Renee Nicole Good during a vigil honoring Good, outside the State Capitol, in St. Paul, Minn., Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, (Kerem Yücel/Minnesota Public Radio via AP)

People visit a makeshift memorial for Renee Good, who was fatally shot by an ICE officer last week, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)

An image depicting Renee Good, who was fatally shot by an ICE officer last week, adorns a makeshift memorial for her in Minneapolis, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)

Federal agents stand guard, Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)