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Wolters, who is also the commander-in-chief of NATO forces in Europe, added that the new US Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, was reviewing the plan “very, very carefully.”
“Pre-planning for the previous initiative has been frozen so that our Defense Secretary and this administration can carefully assess everything that happened before the day Secretary Austin took office,” the general told reporters.
It is true that this is no surprise. Biden has consistently criticized Trump’s behavior in his dealings with America’s allies, so the new president was expected to change course.
Trump has consistently criticized NATO members in Europe for a lack of funding for defense, although many countries have tried to increase funding.
According to Wolters, it is not yet officially known what the Biden administration will decide on the size of the force in Europe in the future. Again, there is a need to review the processes and all kinds of options are possible.
The Trump administration announced last summer that the United States would withdraw about 12,000. about a third of the German troops. It was then said that about half of the troops would return home to America and the rest would be distributed among other European countries.
AFP / Scanpix photo / American troops in Germany
Poland was mentioned often at the time, and Pentagon officials assured that increased military rotation in NATO’s east wing would be more effective in deterring Russia. The previous administration also intended to relocate US Army headquarters in Africa from Stuttgart, only where it had not decided to do so.
Critics, it is true, did not take seriously the arguments about Russia’s deterrence, that Trump simply decided to harm Germany, which was often criticized for not paying enough attention to defense. Berlin increases the defense budget, but up to 2 percent The Alliance’s recommended GDP is still a long way off.
Reuters / Photo by Scanpix / Donald Trump
The Trump administration’s plan to withdraw the troops was unpopular with Republicans and Democrats. Politicians assured Russia would be happy to see a reduction in the number of troops permanently held in Germany.
Lawmakers moved to halt troop pullouts by including an important element in the new National Defense Enabling Act, which was passed in January after overcoming Trump’s veto.
The law prohibits the Pentagon from leaving less than 34.5 thousand in Germany. troops until a detailed explanation of such a move and its implications for European security is provided to Congress.
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