Two former Danish foreign ministers, Mogens Lykketoft and Per Stig Møller, say Denmark should not again say yes to whatever the United States asks, 25 years after the September 11 attacks.
The two men looked back on the attacks and the wars that followed in the P1 program “Kampen om historien,” hosted by historian Asser Amdisen. DR published their reflections on September 11, 2026.
Lykketoft, of the Social Democrats, was foreign minister from 2000 to 2001. Møller, of the Conservative People’s Party, held the post from 2001 to 2010. According to DR, Lykketoft was at the Foreign Ministry in Copenhagen on the day of the attacks, while Møller was in Washington and saw the smoke rise over the city.
Around 3,000 people died in the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, including 343 firefighters, DR notes. The first Danish soldiers were sent to Afghanistan in early January 2002 as part of the US-led Operation Enduring Freedom. Denmark later joined the NATO-led ISAF mission and remained militarily present in Helmand province until June 2021.
For Lykketoft, the central error was that the military effort gradually turned into an attempt to build a new Afghan state. He argues that this was seen early as doomed, including by the American defense chief at the time.
Møller takes a different view of the beginning of the mission. He says the intentions of Denmark and the other participating countries must be remembered, and points to reduced child mortality and higher life expectancy for women. He rejects the idea that everything about the effort was worthless, while acknowledging that it ended badly.
Blame for the withdrawal
Møller says Denmark carries no blame for how the war ended, calling it an American failure. Lykketoft points to Donald Trump’s decision to negotiate directly with the Taliban about an American withdrawal, without involving the Afghan government that the West had helped build. He describes the conclusion of the Afghanistan operation as humiliating.
Both men draw the same basic lesson: Denmark should not again follow the United States so closely and so far without real political influence. Møller says that if the Americans want help in the future, they must also listen politically. He stresses that Denmark and Europe remain deeply dependent on the United States militarily, so the point is not to turn away from the transatlantic alliance.
Lykketoft says Denmark should not accept every request from Washington, even while wanting the United States to remain a close ally. He does not expect the Americans to enter similar long ground wars in distant countries again, citing a lack of domestic support.
He also names one part of the response that worked. According to Lykketoft, international intelligence cooperation proved far more effective than feared, and stopped many planned attacks before they were carried out.
