Trump’s comments about Nato troops ‘incredibly disrespectful’, Luxon says
Tuesday, 27 January 2026
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has called US President Donald Trump’s comments about Nato troops “incredibly disrespectful and wrong”.
Trump provoked outrage and distress late last week when he suggested that troops from Nato countries stayed away from the frontline during the US-led war in Afghanistan.
“I’ve always said, will they be there if we ever needed them and that’s really the ultimate test and I’m not sure of that,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News.
“We’ve never needed them, we have never really asked anything of them. 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.”
When asked by reporters on Tuesday morning if the US president needed to apologise for his comments, Luxon said New Zealand sent 3500 troops to Afghanistan, and called Trump’s comments “incredibly disrespectful and wrong”.
“We lost 10 lives on per capita basis. We were the seventh country that contributed most to fatalities, and I thought it was incredibly disrespectful, I thought,” he said.
Luxon said it was up to Trump to work out whether he wanted to apologise.
“What I want the New Zealand Defence Force and veterans to know is that they are deeply cared for and deeply supported, and we are very grateful for their service to our country,” he said.
“I deal with the men and women of the New Zealand Defence Force regularly, and I’ve made that comment to them…We have incredible men and women doing an amazing job keeping us safe… And I just have huge respect for them.”
When the PM was asked if officials would be sending that message to the White House, Luxon said:
“I’m not responsible for his comments. I want New Zealand service people to understand you are deeply respected by this Government and by me personally.”
Luxon said he was “not sure” if that message had been communicated by New Zealand officials, as he hadn’t spoken to them.
“All I can say to you is that we lost 10 lives of people who fought incredibly hard in Afghanistan and alongside Americans. And we should be very proud of them.”
British Defence Secretary John Healey told AP the UK and Nato allies “answered the US call” at the time, saying that more than 450 British personnel lost their lives in Afghanistan.
“Those British troops should be remembered for who they were: heroes who gave their lives in service of our nation,” he said.
Ben Obese-Jecty, a lawmaker who served in Afghanistan as a captain in the Royal Yorkshire Regiment, told the outlet that it was “sad to see our nation’s sacrifice, and that of our Nato partners, held so cheaply by the president of the United States.'