Fury after Trump's 'insult' to NATO troops
Global News Podcast
BBC
4.3 • 8.3K Ratings
🗓️ 23 January 2026
⏱️ 25 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
A spokesman for Britain's prime minister, Keir Starmer, has said President Trump was wrong to diminish the role of NATO troops during the war in Afghanistan. There's been an angry backlash to the US president's claims that NATO allies avoided the frontline during the conflict. The Polish defence minister said the sacrifice of their troops should not be forgotten. The Dutch foreign minister described Mr Trump's comments as false. Roughly a third of coalition soldiers killed in Afghanistan were non- American. Also: the BBC is granted rare access to one of Ukraine's few operating nuclear power plants; South Africa says Nelson Mandela memorabilia can be auctioned; women's health is on the agenda at the World Economic Forum; limit on liquids is scrapped at London's Heathrow airport; and can ageing novelists retire?
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts. |
| 0:05.7 | This is the Global News podcast from the BBC World Service. |
| 0:10.7 | Hello, I'm Ankara to Sai, and at 16 hours, GMT, on Friday the 23rd of January, these are our main stories. |
| 0:17.8 | Britain says Donald Trump was wrong to diminish the role of NATO troops during the war in |
| 0:22.4 | Afghanistan. There's been an angry backlash to the US president's claim that NATO allies |
| 0:27.2 | avoided the front line during the conflict. While the World Economic Forum has been dominated by |
| 0:32.9 | geopolitical rankling, we'll be talking about women's health, another important topic that leaders |
| 0:38.3 | have been addressing. And a court in South Africa has dismissed a government appeal to block |
| 0:43.2 | the auction of personal items belonging to former President Nelson Mandela. |
| 0:50.0 | Also in this podcast, this plant alone provides a huge proportion of Ukraine's energy needs. |
| 0:56.9 | And the boss of Ukraine's nuclear industry says this too is a target for the Russians. |
| 1:02.6 | As high-level talks to end the war in Ukraine continue, |
| 1:05.2 | we report from inside one of the dwindling number of power stations fighting a freezing winter. |
| 1:21.2 | The once so-called special relationship between the US and UK has, it's fair to say, had a few speed bumps on the road. And now there is another one you can add to that long stretch. |
| 1:26.2 | Donald Trump has sparked outrage here in Britain |
| 1:28.9 | after claiming that NATO troops stayed away from the front line |
| 1:32.6 | during the war in Afghanistan. |
| 1:34.4 | The U.S. President made the comments on Thursday |
| 1:36.7 | while he was at the World Economic Forum in Davos |
| 1:39.2 | during an interview with Fox News. |
| 1:41.9 | We've never needed them. |
| 1:43.7 | We have never really asked anything of them. |
... |
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