President Trump to withdraw thousands of US Troops from Germany

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US President Donald Trump affirmed the US will withdraw thousands of troops from Germany. He said the United States is reducing its military presence in the country by roughly a third. Trump’s comments came after he alleged German officials of being delinquent in its NATO payments. On Monday morning, President informed reporters that the US is “protecting Germany and they’re delinquent, that doesn’t make sense”. Point to be noted that NATO members had supported in 2014 for spending 2% of their gross national product on the military by 2024. Germany is expecting to reach the target by 2031. President claimed Germany is delinquent for billions of dollars, so the US has decided to reduce its military presence to 25 thousand service members as retaliation until they pay.

It is noteworthy that Germany houses almost 34,000 troops. The figure has declined significantly amid the peak of the Cold War. Germany served as a key point for the US and NATO allies between the USSR and the rest of Europe. There are thousands of civilian staff members with the US Department of Defense. However, Germany has since stationed thousands of troops as a staging area for Middle East deployment. Germany doesn’t owe the US, or NATO as members’ pledge to spend 2% of their GDP is not contingent on other countries’ support. German Ambassador Emily Haber also issued a statement following the comments from the US President.

Haber said, “Our cooperation on military and security matters has always been very close and will remain so. US troops aren’t there to defend Germany. They are there to defend the transatlantic security. They are also there to project American power in Africa, in Asia”. Moreover, the decision hasn’t yet approved by legislators or discussed with NATO, or Germany officials. So, President has experienced criticism from several prominent Republicans and allies. They wrote a letter and demanded the president to reverse his decision fearing that a slimmer military presence in Europe could encourage Russian aggression. 22 Republicans on the House Armed Services Committee called the move another favor to Russian President Vladimir Putin.