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Reuters
US Forces in Germany – Archive
Hope has returned to Grafenfor in German Bavaria, whose fate is tied to the largest American military base in Europe since Joe Biden was elected president of the United States.
And American soldiers believe in continuing economic activity in the city, which has been adapted to their needs, such as the street adjacent to their base, where tattoo shops and American-style barber shops have proliferated since the end of the Second World War.
The number of American soldiers at the aforementioned base and throughout Germany has dropped from 200,000 in 1990 to 34,500 now.
The city has been aware of this threat for years, but the announcement by the administration of US President Donald Trump to withdraw 12,000 troops from Germany, including 5,000 from Grafenfor and the neighboring town of Vilsik, caused a stir.
Conservative Mayor Edgar Knobloch says: “Reducing the number of American forces will have serious economic consequences.”
He added that “Al-Qaeda employs more than 3,000 civilians in the city, and the military spends about 660 million euros annually in the form of wages and private consumption.”
Since the announcement of the victory of Democratic candidate Joe Biden last November, the decision to withdraw the US military has been suspended pending a new study from the Department of Defense, allowing the city to breathe a sigh of relief.
Many city dwellers believe that this is also in the interest of the Americans, who have invested heavily in recent years to modernize the base, which sends the soldiers deployed there on missions to Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as the US armies. NATO member states conduct regular training there.
Source: “AFP”
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