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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Leyland Cecco in Toronto

Trump claims Nato troops ‘stayed a little off the frontlines’ in Afghanistan

army tanks
French soldiers in an armoured vehicle, at right, and Afghan National Army soldiers in their tank patrol in Uzbin valley in the Sorobi district of Kabul province on 12 March 2009. Photograph: Thibauld Malterre/AFP via Getty Images

Donald Trump has again disparaged America’s Nato allies, claiming that troops from allied nations “stayed a little back, a little off the frontlines” while fighting in Afghanistan in support of the US campaign against the Taliban.

The only time Nato has ever invoked its mutual defence clause – stating that an attack on one member represents an attack on all – came after the terrorist attacks of September 11, when member states deployed thousands of troops to Afghanistan.

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