U.S. Will Cut 12,000 Forces in Germany

Whether you are for or against the U.S. keeping troops in Germany, you should be concerned about the reason the President is reducing troop presence in that country.

The Pentagon has started to execute President Donald Trump’s order to withdraw one-third of the U.S. troops in Germany—reducing their numbers from 36,000 to 24,000. Three things about this move are already clear.

First, far from being “a major strategic and positive shift,” as Secretary of Defense Mark Esper characterized it at a news conference Wednesday, it is purely an outburst of Trump’s angst and revenge, aimed at German Chancellor Angela Merkel, for various slights against him.

Second, the strategic shift it bodes would not be at all positive for the NATO alliance—and, contrary to Trump’s intentions, it would cost the United States more money.

Finally, in part for those reasons, defense officials are slow-rolling the pullout, to the point where only a small fraction of the troops will have left Germany by this fall’s election. Then, if Trump loses, the plan will be discarded, as if it had never been put forth, and the rest of the troops will stay where they are.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/29/world/europe/us-troops-nato-germany.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/29/world/europe/us-troops-nato-germany.html

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