Tusk responds to Hegseth, who belittled US allies' contribution to the Afghan mission

Prime Minister Donald Tusk opened Tuesday's cabinet meeting by reading out a text message from a woman who served in the Afghan mission and asked him to stand up for the soldiers. He said Polish troops had stood shoulder to shoulder with allies, including the Americans, wherever they were needed, and that disregarding a contribution some paid for with their lives is unacceptable. Tusk added that he had counted on the president's voice on the matter but had apparently miscalculated.

The trigger was a remark by US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth to journalists on Saturday: at the coalition headquarters in Kabul he had seen 50 flags of participating countries, but in his view only about five made a real contribution, and one or two took part in combat operations.

Sejm Speaker Włodzimierz Czarzasty called on US representatives not to say things that hurt the families of Polish soldiers and reproached President Karol Nawrocki for not protesting. Presidential spokesman Rafał Leśkiewicz replied that the president had repeatedly expressed recognition for Polish soldiers and called using their sacrifice in the current political dispute an insult to the memory of the fallen.

According to TVN24, during two decades of NATO presence in Afghanistan (2001–2021) about 3,500 allied soldiers died, about 2,500 of them Americans.