'Rage and anger': Canadian veteran slams Trump claims about NATO allies in Afghanistan

A Canadian veteran who served two tours in Afghanistan said he reacted with outrage to U.S. President Donald Trump's latest comments about NATO allies' contributions in the lengthy war in the Middle East.

On Thursday, Trump said the U.S. "never needed" troops from NATO, of which Canada is a member.

"We have never really asked anything of them," Trump told Fox News in Davos, Switzerland. "You know, they'll 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."

Nigel Williams, who was deployed to Afghanistan in 2006 and 2011, said Friday he felt "rage and anger and disappointment" after hearing Trump's comments.

"Everybody has a different perspective of what happened down there, except for the people who were there," said Williams, who now lives in Windsor, Ont. "We all have the same perspective. We all know what happened and how it went. So it's unfortunate and it's saddening."

Canadian troops were stationed in Kandahar, which "was the frontline," Williams told CBC News Network.

"There was no ifs, ands, or buts about it," he said. "Clearly his perspective on it was different than mine. You know, I thought those were real bullets and real IEDs that was happening and exploding around us."

NATO's Article 5, the military alliance's collective defence principle, has only been triggered once: In the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the U.S.

More than 40,000 members of the Canadian Armed Forces served in the ensuing war in Afghanistan, and 158 were killed.

Williams, who served in Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, said he lost friends in the war.

"We focus on two groups of people in Afghanistan," he said. "We focus on obviously the ones that didn't make it back. And then we also focus on the guys that that made it back. But what we don't focus — there's a third group — the people that made it back but aren't OK."

That means either physical or mental injuries.

Trump's claim "flies in the face of those individuals," Williams said. "They put their their lives on the line in an extremely bad spot of the world."

Williams said he hoped Prime Minister Mark Carney would "stand behind his troops."

"Stand behind the people who stood in front of you," he said. "Defend the troops the way only you can from that position."