Speaking to Fox News on Thursday, Trump claimed that the United States never truly needed NATO and suggested that European forces stayed away from the front lines during the conflict in Afghanistan.

His remarks quickly sparked outrage among veterans and political leaders who say the statement twists history and insults those who paid the highest price.

Veterans stressed that NATO allies did not watch the war from a distance. Instead, hundreds of European soldiers were killed while fighting shoulder to shoulder with U.S. forces over two decades of war. Many others returned home wounded, both in body and in mind.

According to Reuters, the British Prime Minister’s office also rejected Trump’s comments, calling them misleading and unfair, especially given the long and costly nature of the Afghanistan mission.

Retired Polish General Roman Polko, who served in Afghanistan and Iraq, said Trump had ‘crossed a red line.’ He added that NATO allies ‘paid for this alliance in blood’ and deserve respect, not dismissal. Polko said an apology was overdue.

UK Veterans Minister Alistair Carns, who served five tours in Afghanistan with U.S. troops, described Trump’s claims as ‘completely absurd.’ He said NATO forces shared ‘blood, sweat, and tears,’ and reminded the public that not everyone who went to war came back home.

Colonel Stuart Tootal, who led the first British battle group deployed to Helmand province in 2006, also called on Trump to apologize. While he agreed that NATO members should invest more in defense, he said Trump’s comments about the Afghan war were wrong and without basis.

Former MI6 chief Richard Moore added that he worked closely with CIA officers in dangerous conditions and remains proud of the NATO partnership, calling it a bond forged under pressure.

Trump’s remarks come at a sensitive time, as relations with European allies are already strained. Tensions increased further after he recently expressed interest in acquiring Greenland during the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Critics also pointed out that NATO’s Article 5, the alliance’s core promise that an attack on one member is an attack on all was invoked only once, after the September 11, 2001 attacks. That decision led European allies to join the U.S. led mission in Afghanistan.

Some politicians went further, recalling that Trump avoided military service during the Vietnam War due to medical deferments. UK Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey said those who never served ‘have no right to question the sacrifices of those who did.’

Poland’s Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak Kamysz echoed that sentiment, saying Poland’s losses in Afghanistan will never be forgotten and must never be minimized.