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REUTERS
BRUSSELS
US President Donald Trump on Thursday intensified his accusations that NATO allies were not spending enough on defence and said more attacks such as this week's bombing in Manchester would take place unless the alliance did more to stop militants.
In unexpectedly abrupt remarks as NATO leaders stood alongside him, Trump said certain member countries owed"massive amounts of money"to the United States and NATO, even though allied contributions are voluntary, with multiple budgets.
His scripted comments contrasted with NATO's choreographed efforts to play up the West's unity by inviting Trump to unveil a memorial to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States at the new NATO headquarters.
"We will never waiver in our determination to defeat terrorism and achieve lasting security, prosperity and peace,"Trump said in the speech before a dinner with leaders.
"Terrorism must be stopped or ... the horror you saw in Manchester and so many other places will continue forever,"Trump said, referring to Monday's suicide bombing in the northern English city that killed 22 people, including children.
Trump called on NATO, an organisation founded on collective defence against the Soviet threat, to include limiting immigration in its tasks as well as fighting terrorism and deterring Russia.
NATO leaders wanted Trump to publicly support the military alliance that he had called"obsolete"during his campaign.
But he instead returned to a grievance about Europe's drop in defence spending since the end of the Cold War and failed to publicly commit to NATO's founding Article V rule which stipulates that an attack on one ally is an attack against all.
"Twenty-three of the 28 member nations are still not paying what they should be paying for their defence,"Trump said, standing by a piece of the wreckage of the Twin Towers.
"This is not fair to the people and taxpayers of the US, and many of these nations owe massive amounts of money from past years,"Trump said as the other leaders watched.
Nicholas Burns, a former long-time diplomat and ambassador to NATO from 2001-2005, now a professor at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, said every US president since Harry Truman had pledged support for Article V and that the United States would defend Europe.
"Not so Trump today at NATO. Major mistake,"he said on Twitter.
White House spokesman Sean Spicer said Trump was"100 percent"committed to collective defence."We are not playing cutesie with this. He is fully committed,"Spicer said.
