The U.S. Embassy in Denmark on Tuesday removed 44 Danish flags honoring 44 Danish soldiers killed in Afghanistan that had been placed in planters outside the building, drawing outrage from the country’s veterans amid heightened tensions between Copenhagen and Washington over President Donald Trump’s dismissal of the country’s contribution to the war in Afghanistan.
There was no malicious intent in removing the flags, said a State Department spokesperson, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive information. Security personnel typically clean up flags, banners and signs that demonstrators leave behind at the embassy, the spokesperson added.
“The flags were not placed by U.S. Embassy staff, and their placement was not coordinated with embassy staff. Until an outlet reached out, we were unaware of why the flags were placed in planters outside the embassy,” the spokesperson said, citing a policy of generally prohibiting the placement of items around the building. “While the flags placed Tuesday afternoon were removed in accordance with this policy, they were returned to those who left them. Additional flags subsequently placed are currently in place and will remain so.”
Danish veterans placed 44 flags in flower boxes outside the embassy in commemoration of fallen Danish soldiers. The move followed comments by Trump downplaying the role that tens of thousands of troops from NATO countries played in Afghanistan, according to Danish media.
“We’ve never needed them. We have never really asked anything of them,” Trump said during an interview with Fox Business Network this month. “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.”
About 9,500 Danish troops were deployed to Afghanistan over the course of the 12-year war, The Washington Post previously reported. In 2013, the Danish prime minister at the time, Helle Thorning-Schmidt, said that Denmark was among “the countries that have carried the toughest load in Afghanistan.”
The incident comes at a delicate moment between the U.S. and Denmark, one of Washington’s oldest NATO allies and most reliable military partners. Trump has long eyed acquiring Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark, for its minerals and strategic location near Russia and China. The president in recent weeks floated military action and threatened to impose tariffs on European countries that oppose his push to claim the Danish territory as his own.
His escalating rhetoric culminated in a speech during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, this month where he called for “the acquisition of Greenland by the United States — just as we have acquired many other territories throughout our history.”
Trump later walked back his demands and reversed the tariff threat in favor of a deal framework that would bolster security in the Arctic.
Adam Taylor contributed to this report.
The post Removal of flags for fallen Danish soldiers at U.S. Embassy sparks backlash appeared first on Washington Post.
