![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/2b2eec23fea6f4087f07fcdfaed07ed2.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Danish Ambassador to the U.S. Jesper M\u00f8ller S\u00f8rensen on Friday clapped back at President Trump\u2019s remarks about NATO troops who served in Afghanistan, saying \u201cDenmark answered\u201d following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter 9\/11, the U.S. called. Denmark answered,\u201d S\u00f8rensen posted on the social platform X<\/a>. \u201cThousands of Danish troops served in Helmand\u2014on the front line. We lost more soldiers per capita than even the United States. That was solidarity. We stood with America then\u2014and we still do. I witnessed our brave men & women during my 1.5 years in Afghanistan.\u201d<\/p>\n S\u00f8rensen\u2019s post included a photo of the ambassador flanked by two U.S. soldiers, with a U.S. Marine Corps Osprey helicopter behind them.<\/p>\n Trump said the U.S. \u201cnever needed\u201d non-U.S. NATO troops in an interview with Fox Business Network while at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday.<\/p>\n \u201cYou know, they\u2019ll say they sent some troops to Afghanistan, or this or that, and they did \u2014 they stayed a little back, a little off the front lines,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte confronted Trump earlier this week about his comments, telling the president that Europe did respond and joined the U.S. in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n \u201cAs you know, for every two Americans who paid the ultimate price, there was one soldier from another NATO country who did not come back to his family \u2014 from the Netherlands, from Denmark, particularly from other countries,\u201d Rutte said.<\/p>\n The Trump comment caused a firestorm<\/a> in Great Britain, as Prime Minister\u00a0Keir Starmer and politicians from different parties along with former soldiers and the parents of fallen military members criticized the remarks.<\/p>\n A spokesperson for Starmer said Trump \u201cwas wrong to diminish the role of NATO troops\u201d in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n Conservative Party opposition leader Kemi Badenoch called Trump\u2019s remark \u201ca disgrace,\u201d and said \u201cthrowaway comments\u201d weaken U.S. relations with other NATO countries, the BBC reported.<\/a><\/p>\n Reform UK leader and Trump ally Nigel Farage said the president was \u201cwrong.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhen the decision was made to go into Afghanistan, we went in with America, the coalition of the willing,\u201d Farage said in a video he shared on X<\/a>. \u201cWe stayed by America for the whole 20 years. We proportionally spent the same money as America. We lost the same number of lives as America pro rata. And the same actually applies to Denmark and other countries too. So it\u2019s not quite fair.\u201d<\/p>\n Prince Harry also criticized Trump\u2019s remark. He said NATO countries \u201canswered the call\u201d when the U.S. invoked Article 5 of the NATO treaty following the Sept. 11 attacks, himself having served as a British captain on two tours in Afghanistan in 2008 and 2012.<\/p>\n \u201cI served there,\u201d Prince Harry said in a statement obtained by The Telegraph<\/a>. \u201cI made lifelong friends there. And I lost friends there.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMothers and fathers buried sons and daughters,\u201d he added. \u201cChildren were left without a parent. Families are left carrying the cost.\u201d<\/p>\n Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n