Politicians, Dutch army veterans and relatives of soldiers killed in action have reacted angrily to remarks by US president Donald Trump downplaying the role of Nato troops in Afghanistan.

During his visit to the World Economic Forum last week, Trump said Nato troops had stayed “a bit in the background” and away from the front lines during the Afghanistan mission. He also questioned whether Nato allies would “be there” if the United States “ever needed them”, comments he repeated later to Fox News.

Foreign affairs minister David van Weel described Trump’s comments as inaccurate. “I have been to Afghanistan, Uruzgan, several times,” he said. What Trump said is “disrespectful and untrue,” said Van Weel, who worked for the Navy and Nato before becoming a minister.

Former Dutch army major Henry Beukers told broadcaster NOS the claim was untrue and deeply hurtful. “We fought shoulder to shoulder with the Americans on the front line,” he said.

The Nato mission in Afghanistan began after the United States invoked Article 5 of the alliance’s treaty following the 11 September 2001 attacks. It was the only time in Nato’s history that the collective defence clause, under which an attack on one member is considered an attack on all, was activated.

Caretaker defence minister Ruben Brekelmans said Dutch soldiers had taken part in various missions in Afghanistan on the front line. “Article 5 has been invoked just once and that was by the Americans,” he said. “It is worrying that he is so badly informed and belittling. Dutch soldiers and their families made huge sacrifices.”

Between 2002 and 2021, the Netherlands deployed more than 30,000 service personnel to Afghanistan. Twenty-five Dutch soldiers were killed, several during combat operations. In total, 51 countries took part in the ISAF mission.

Among the dead was the son of the Netherland’s then armed forces chief Peter van Uhm who was killed in a bomb attack.

Painful

Former army commander Mart de Kruif said Trump’s comments were in stark and painful contrast to the reality faced by soldiers and their families. Troops from many countries had died “because they were fighting on the front line to help an ally”, he said in an online post.

The US suffered by far the highest losses, with around 2,500 soldiers killed, followed by Britain with 457.

Former Nato secretary general Jaap de Hoop Scheffer has also called on the US president to apologise. “No American president should have the liberty to belittle their legacy and to insult the ones who are still grieving the fact that they didn’t come back alive from Afghanistan,” De Hoop Scheffer told the BBC.