By Soren Jeppesen and Tom Little
COPENHAGEN, Jan 31 (Reuters) – Hundreds of Danes gathered outside the U.S. Embassy in Copenhagen on Saturday in support of veterans who said they had been insulted by President Donald Trump’s comment that European allies had kept “off the front lines” in the Afghanistan war.
Denmark, with a population less than 2% the size of the United States, was one of the major combat allies in the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan, losing 44 service members killed, a per capita death toll on par with that of the Americans themselves.
Trump had already antagonised Danes by demanding the annexation of Greenland, a semi-autonomous territory of the Danish kingdom, when he made the remarks last week questioning the role of NATO allies during the conflict.
The remarks sparked widespread backlash from Europeans, with Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer calling them “insulting and frankly appalling”. Trump subsequently singled out British troops for praise, but stopped short of apologising or addressing the role of European troops more broadly.
“Behind all these flags, there’s a guy, there’s a soldier, there’s a young man,” said retired Danish Lieutenant-Colonel Niels Christian Koefoed, who served in Afghanistan, as demonstrators planted Danish flags embroidered with the names of the deceased outside the U.S. Embassy.
The protesters, many wearing medals received for their NATO service, marched to the embassy, where the names of Danish soldiers killed in Afghanistan and Iraq were read aloud. The event concluded with a moment of silence.
“I lost a very close friend and colleague of mine,” said Afghanistan veteran Jesper Larsen. “So I was hurt by what Mr Trump said, and I think he owes all my combat friends an apology.”
(Writing by Jacob Gronholt-PedersenEditing by Peter Graff)
