Trump launches fresh attack on NATO allies as he claims European troops 'stayed off the front lines' in Afghanistan

This latest barb came hours after NATO’s secretary general, Mark Rutte, delivered a swift reality check to the US President after he claimed his allies “would not be there for us” if America needed help.

Speaking to Fox News on Thursday, Mr Trump said: “I've always said, will they be there if we ever needed them?

“That's really the ultimate test, and I'm not sure of that.

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“We've never needed them.

“They'll say they sent some troops to Afghanistan ... and they did, they stayed a little back, a little off the frontlines.”

Mr Trump made similar comments when speaking in Davos on Wednesday, saying: 'I know them all very well. I’m not sure that they’d be there. I know we’d be there for them. I don’t know that they would be there for us.”

These claims are demonstrably false, with Britain alone losing 457 troops fighting in Afghanistan.

A further 2,000 Brits were wounded in action.

France, Germany, Italy and Denmark also suffered heavy losses.

In response to Mr Trump’s comments, NATO chief Rutte told him: “There’s one thing I heard you say yesterday and today.

“You were not absolutely sure Europeans would come to the rescue of the US if you will be attacked. Let me tell you, they will and they did in Afghanistan.

“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 – from the Netherlands, from Denmark and particularly from other countries.

“So you can be assured, absolutely, if ever the United States was under attack, your allies will be with you.

“There is an absolute guarantee. I really want to tell you that because it pains me if you think it is not.”

This latest row comes after Mr Trump walked back on his threats to slap the US’s NATO allies with fresh tariffs if they blocked his attempts to take Greenland.

In a post on social media, the president confirmed he had formed a framework for a future deal for the Danish territory during crunch talks with NATO's leadership.

Mr Trump said the proposed deal would be “a great one for the United States of America, and all NATO Nations”.

The president had previously threatened to impose the tariffs “on any and all goods” sent to the US from February 1, increased to 25% from June 1, until a deal was agreed for the US purchase of Greenland.

In the post on Truth Social, Mr Trump said: “Based upon a very productive meeting that I have had with the Secretary General of NATO, Mark Rutte, we have formed the framework of a future deal with respect to Greenland and, in fact, the entire Arctic Region.

“This solution, if consummated, will be a great one for the United States of America and all NATO Nations. Based upon this understanding, I will not be imposing the Tariffs that were scheduled to go into effect on February 1st.

“Additional discussions are being held concerning The Golden Dome as it pertains to Greenland. Further information will be made available as discussions progress.

“Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, and various others, as needed, will be responsible for the negotiations. They will report directly to me. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

Speaking to reporters after his post, Mr Trump said: "It's a deal everybody is happy with.

"It's a long-term deal. It's the ultimate long-term deal, and I think it puts everybody in a really good position, especially as it pertains to security and minerals and anything else."

Trump's comments on NATO have not gone down well with Calvin Bailey, Labour MP for Leyton and Wanstead.

Mr Bailey, who served in the Afghanistan war alongside American forces, slammed Trump's words.

He told LBC News's James Hanson: "I served as part of the US Special Operations Command in Afghanistan. And for that service, I was issued an Air Medal by the President of the United States for fighting as part of that force and those units, and those were the units that went and picked up President Maduro the other day.

"So we were present everywhere in Afghanistan. And so the suggestions that were made earlier that allies stayed off the frontline bears no resemblance to the experience of my experiences or others that served on the front line."

Mr Bailey said Trump "certainly has a very distorted view of what his NATO Allies did on behalf of his country and at the behest of his country".

In response to Trump's threats to annex Greenland, the Labour MP added: "We have a very strong and lasting history with the US, and that history will continue when this administration is over, and it will continue beyond this administration, and that relationship is founded on the inalienable rights of free people, and is drawn from the Magna Carta and from the Declaration of Independence.

"And that's something that we will hold on to, and it's a handrail we will return to, and it's a handrail that we must constantly remind ourselves of.

Because what we mustn't do is be really out front and powerful about the need to recognize and uphold these values when talking about Greenland, and then do what the Leader of the Opposition did, which is take a completely contrary view, to piggyback what President Trump was saying, trying to gain political capital out of us, applying the same values in Diego Garcia, we've got to be consistent, and that consistency will outlast anyone."