America will withdraw about 5,000 troops from Germany in the following 6-12 months, the Pentagon said Friday.
U.S. President Donald Trump had threatened to withdraw some troops from the NATO ally earlier this week as he continues to feud with Chancellor Friedrich Merz over the united statesIsrael war against Iran. Merz said the U.S. was being “humiliated” by the Iranian leadership and criticized Washington’s lack of strategy within the war.
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in an announcement that the “decision follows a radical review of the Department’s force posture in Europe and is in recognition of theater requirements and conditions on the bottom.”
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The U.S. has several major military facilities in Germany, including the headquarters for U.S. European Command and U.S. Africa Command, Ramstein Air Base and Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, the most important American hospital outside america.
The variety of troops leaving Germany can be 14% of the 36,000 American service members stationed there.
Nico Lange from the Center of European Policy Evaluation told The Associated Press earlier this week that they primarily serve U.S. interests, including “the projection of American power globally,” reasonably than helping with the defense of Germany.
Trump ignored questions from reporters in regards to the withdrawal on Friday as he boarded Air Force One in Ocala, Florida, following a rally to tout his economic agenda.
Trump made an analogous threat in his first term, saying he would pull about 9,500 of the roughly 34,500 U.S. troops who were then stationed in Germany, but he didn’t start the method and Democratic President Joe Biden formally stopped the planned withdrawal soon after taking office in 2021.
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