Canada’s defence minister said Friday “there was no standing back” by Canadian forces from the front lines in Afghanistan after U.S. President Donald Trump downplayed NATO allies’ involvement in that war.
Defence Minister David McGuinty was the latest federal official to push back on Trump’s comments in an interview aired Thursday night, in which he claimed troops from allied nations “stayed a little back” from the front lines in Afghanistan. World leaders have also condemned the remarks.
“There was no standing back. Only standing side by side, together on the front lines with our allies,” McGuinty said in a statement provided by his office.
“From 2001-2014, Canada joined allies in the fight against terror in Afghanistan. CAF men and women were on the ground from the beginning, not because we had to, but because it was the right thing to do. Canadian troops led allied efforts in the perilous Kandahar Province. Combat operations were regular duty, demanding sacrifice from our soldiers.
McGuinty went on to point out that “158 of our personnel, along with a Canadian diplomat paid the ultimate price.
“Lest we forget.”
Trump has repeatedly questioned in recent weeks whether NATO would come to the aid of the U.S. if attacked while defending his push to acquire Greenland from Denmark, a NATO ally.
He made the same argument in the interview with Fox News on Thursday, but went further by saying the U.S. has never needed help from the transatlantic military alliance.
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“We have never really asked anything of them,” Trump said of non-U.S. troops. “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.”
The only time NATO’s Article 5 commitment to mutual self-defence has ever been invoked was after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States.
In October 2001, the U.S. called upon NATO allies to participate in an international coalition in Afghanistan to destroy al-Qaeda, which had used the country as its base, and the group’s Taliban hosts. Dozens of countries answered the call, including Canada and Denmark, which lost 44 lives and matched the U.S. in per-capita casualties in the war.
Culture Minister Marc Miller, who served as a reservist, told reporters at the Liberal cabinet retreat in Quebec City on Friday that Canadians made “great sacrifices” in Afghanistan and that Trump’s comments were “false.”
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Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne said at the end of the retreat that “Canadians are very proud of their service” in Afghanistan and that Canada will continue to support multinational forces “whenever called upon.”
“You cannot rewrite history,” he said.
“We know what they did, the world knows what they did. And I can tell you, every NATO partner that I’ve been engaging with will tell you that the Canadian Forces are very well respected around the world for their contribution, for their sacrifice and for their professionalism.”
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, whose country lost 457 military personnel and sent the largest non-American contingent to Afghanistan, suggested Trump should apologize for his comments. He noted many other British troops who survived the war suffered profound life-long injuries.
“I will never forget their courage, their bravery and the sacrifice they made for their country,” Starmer said Friday.
“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.”
—with files from the Canadian Press and the Associated Press
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