Online Reporter
WASHINGTON. – Emotions are running high in Europe following US President Donald Trump’s military threats and his downplaying of contributions made by allied troops in Afghanistan.
Trump has triggered outrage among allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) after questioning whether they would come to Washington’s aid in times of need.
“We’ve never needed them. We have never really asked anything of them. 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,” Trump said last week in an interview with Fox News in Davos, Switzerland, sparking a firestorm of criticism.
The comments incensed European leaders, with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer denouncing Trump’s statement as “insulting and frankly appalling” since British forces suffered casualties in the US war in Afghanistan.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk also lambasted Trump’s comments in a social media post, pointing out that his country, too, lost troops in Afghanistan.
This latest controversy comes on the heels of a tense dispute with European leaders over Greenland, after Trump said military action would be a possible option in his bid to acquire the largely Arctic island, a self-governing territory within the Kingdom of Denmark.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said that while security, investment and economic issues could be negotiated, “we cannot negotiate on our sovereignty.”
While Trump later claimed to have secured the framework of a deal with NATO regarding Greenland’s future, his threats and aggressive rhetoric prompted European leaders to denounce any military aggression on Greenland as “neo-colonialism.”
The United States wanted to “weaken and subordinate Europe” by demanding “maximum concessions” and implementing tariffs that were “fundamentally unacceptable — even more so when they are used as leverage against territorial sovereignty,” French President Emmanuel Macron said at the recent World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said that “transatlantic relations have definitely taken a big blow over the last week.” – Xinhua
