Hundreds of people gathered on Saturday outside the U.S. Embassy in Copenhagen to express support for Danish veterans after President Donald Trump made comments suggesting some European allies had kept "off the front lines" during the war in Afghanistan. The demonstration highlighted deep hurt among those who served and aimed to draw attention to the human cost borne by a small country that was a major combat ally in the U.S.-led campaign.
Denmark, which has a population less than 2% the size of the United States, lost 44 service members killed while serving in Afghanistan - a toll that the demonstrators noted is, on a per capita basis, comparable to that suffered by American forces. Protesters planted Danish flags embroidered with the names of the deceased outside the embassy grounds as a visible tribute to those who died.
Retired Lieutenant-Colonel Niels Christian Koefoed, who served in Afghanistan, spoke at the gathering and voiced the personal dimension behind the flags. "Behind all these flags, there’s a guy, there’s a soldier, there’s a young man," he said as the ceremony continued.
Many at the event wore medals awarded for their NATO service. The group marched to the embassy while the names of Danish troops killed in Afghanistan and Iraq were read aloud, and the proceedings concluded with a moment of silence to honour the fallen.
Afghanistan veteran Jesper Larsen described his own pain following the remarks. "I lost a very close friend and colleague of mine," he said. "So I was hurt by what Mr Trump said, and I think he owes all my combat friends an apology."
The comments that prompted the protest came after an episode in which Mr Trump had previously angered Danes by calling for the annexation of Greenland, a semi-autonomous territory of the Danish kingdom. Last week’s questioning of NATO allies’ roles in Afghanistan drew criticism across Europe, with Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer calling the remarks "insulting and frankly appalling".
Mr Trump later singled out British troops for praise but did not apologise or broadly address the participation of other European forces in the conflict. The Copenhagen demonstration underscored the sensitivity of veterans and families in countries that contributed troops to the Afghanistan campaign and the ongoing political fallout from the remarks.