“Wrong and without respect” is how Norway’s Defense Minister Tore O. Sandvik described Trump’s comments.
“All fallen soldiers, their families and veterans deserve to be spoken about with respect,” Sandvik told local media, adding that he fully understood why veterans and relatives were angered by Trump’s words. More than 10,000 Norwegian troops served in Afghanistan and 10 were killed, he noted.
Denmark’s ambassador to the United States, Jesper Møller Sørensen, said Danish forces fought “on the front line” in Helmand province in the Afghan war and suffered one of the highest per-capita casualty rates among NATO allies.
“That was solidarity,” Sørensen wrote in a post on X. “We stood with America then — and we still do.”
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk recalled attending a farewell ceremony in Ghazni in 2011 for five fallen Polish soldiers. “The American officers who accompanied me then told me that America would never forget the Polish heroes,” he wrote on X, adding: “Perhaps they will remind President Trump of that fact.”
“That’s false,” said Dutch Foreign Minister David van Weel. “That’s not how history went.”