'Shameful': Pete Hegseth Blasted Over Attack On Nato's Contribution To Afghanistan War

The US defence secretary was branded “dishonest, disrespectful and dishonourable”.

Pete Hegseth has been criticised after he mocked the contribution Nato countries made to the war in Afghanistan.

The US defence secretary was branded “dishonest, disrespectful and dishonourable” over his comments, which he made in a speech to US army cadets.

Hegseth suggested that “maybe five” countries contributed to the mission, with just “one or two” actually fighting.

In fact, more than 1,100 non-American troops from 31 different countries were killed in Afghanistan, 457 of them from the UK.

Hegseth: “I was a captain in Afghanistan and we would go to the headquarters in Kabul and there would be 50 flags at the headquarters.

“It was a beautiful thing to see, 50 different countries contributing to the Nato alliance and the [International Security Assistance Force] mission there. Except there were maybe five that contributed, it was actually closer to one or two that by the end were actually involved in kinetic operations.

“In fact the patch ‘ISAF’ we joked it meant ‘I Saw Americans Fighting’.”

Hegseth on Afghanistan:I was a captain in Afghanistan, and we would go to the headquarters in Kabul, and there would be 50 flags at the headquarters.It was a........

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