{"id":1440,"date":"2026-01-25T23:28:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-25T17:58:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/?p=1440"},"modified":"2026-01-25T23:28:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-25T17:58:09","slug":"italian-pm-meloni-rebukes-trumps-nato-remarks-defends-alliances-afghanistan-role","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/?p=1440","title":{"rendered":"Italian PM Meloni rebukes Trump\u2019s NATO remarks, defends alliance\u2019s Afghanistan role"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Rome, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has issued a strong public response after US President Donald Trump suggested that NATO allies had failed to fully support the United States during military operations in Afghanistan, remarks that have sparked backlash across Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a statement posted on X, Meloni said, \u201cThe Italian Government has learned with astonishment of President Trump\u2019s statements according to which NATO allies would have \u2018fallen behind\u2019 during operations in Afghanistan.\u201d She stressed that such claims overlook the unprecedented solidarity shown by the alliance following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meloni recalled that \u201cFollowing the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, NATO activated Article 5 for the first and only time in its history: an extraordinary act of solidarity toward the United States.\u201d She underlined Italy\u2019s immediate and sustained military commitment, noting that Rome deployed thousands of troops and assumed leadership of Regional Command West, one of the most strategically important areas of the NATO-led mission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOver the course of nearly twenty years of commitment, our Nation has borne a cost that cannot be disputed,\u201d Meloni wrote, citing 53 Italian soldiers killed and more than 700 wounded during combat operations, security missions, and training efforts for Afghan forces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She concluded that \u201cstatements that minimize the contribution of NATO countries in Afghanistan are unacceptable, especially if they come from an allied Nation,\u201d while reaffirming the long-standing relationship between Rome and Washington. \u201cFriendship requires respect, a fundamental condition for continuing to ensure the solidarity at the heart of the Atlantic Alliance,\u201d Meloni added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump\u2019s remarks, made during an interview with Fox News at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Thursday (January 22, 2026), triggered outrage and concern across the United Kingdom and other NATO countries the following day. \u201cWe\u2019ve never needed them, we have never really asked anything of them,\u201d Trump said, referring to NATO allies. \u201cYou know, they\u2019ll 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.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump also said he was uncertain whether NATO would support the United States if assistance were ever requested, comments that many European leaders viewed as dismissive of two decades of allied cooperation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In October 2001, nearly one month after the September 11 attacks, the United States led an international coalition into Afghanistan to dismantle al-Qaida and remove its Taliban hosts. Forces from dozens of countries participated, including NATO members whose mutual-defense clause had been invoked for the first time in the alliance\u2019s history.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rome, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has issued a strong public response after US President Donald Trump suggested that NATO allies had failed to fully support the United States during […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1441,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1440","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-display","category-international","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1440","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1440"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1440\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1442,"href":"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1440\/revisions\/1442"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1441"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}