Polish officials react to Trump diminishing NATO involvement in Afghanistan
Ministers of defence and foreign affairs, as well as the presidential spokesman, have expressed their solidarity with Polish soldiers, after US President Donald Trump questioned allied military engagement in Afghanistan and the Middle East.
While at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss resort of Davos, Trump criticised NATO on Wednesday, arguing that the US did not benefit from its membership in the military alliance.
On Thursday, in an interview with US broadcaster FOX News, Trump questioned the readiness of NATO allies to aid the US and diminished their military involvement in the war in Afghanistan, after the collective defence clause was invoked following the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington.
"We've never needed them," he said, adding, "We have never really asked anything of them."
"They'll say they sent some troops to Afghanistan," he said, "and they did, they stayed a little back, a little off the front lines".
Trump's remarks met with fierce criticism, both from senior allied politicians and veterans themselves.
Polish Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz responded to Trump's remarks on Friday, posting on X that the Polish Armed Forces joined its allies on NATO's missions in Afghanistan and Iraq.
He said that the "tragic moments, when our soldiers died, showed that in defence of international security, of Poland's security, we are ready to pay the highest price," adding that the sacrifice of Polish soldiers "will never be forgotten and must not be diminished."
"Poland is a reliable and proven ally, and nothing will change that," he concluded.
Also on Friday, Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said on X: "The Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces (President Karol Nawrocki - PAP) will surely demand satisfaction for the honour of our soldiers," attaching a joint photo of Nawrocki and Trump taken at their recent meeting in Davos.
"President Karol Nawrocki... always has stood, is standing and will stand on the side of the Polish soldier," the presidential spokesman Rafal Leskiewicz later told PAP.
In the evening, Prime Minister Donald Tusk wrote on X: "On December 22, 2011, in Ghazni, Afghanistan, I took part in the farewell ceremony for the five fallen Polish soldiers."
"The American officers who accompanied me then, told me that America would never forget the Polish heroes. Perhaps they will remind President Trump of that fact," he added.
Tusk referred to a deadly bomb attack by the Taliban which targeted Polish soldiers stationed in the Afghan Ghazni province in December 2011.
Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty states that an armed attack against one NATO member shall be considered an attack against them all. It was invoked for the first and only time in its history after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks against the United States.
Subsequently, NATO allies engaged in multi-year military missions in the Middle East, aiding the US in its war on terrorism.
Over 33,000 Polish soldiers and defence ministry personnel participated in the mission to Afghanistan over the span of more than 20 years. Of those, 43 soldiers and one civilian paramedic were killed or died.
Between 2003 and 2008, over 15,000 Polish soldiers were deployed on a joint allied mission to Iraq, of which 22 were killed. (PAP)
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