U.S. Army paratroopers assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade prepare to board a plane prior to an air operation at Aviano Air Base, Italy, June 24, 2020.
Spc. Ryan Lucas | U.S. Army photo
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump selected an option to withdraw US military personnel from Germany and redeploy those forces elsewhere, the Pentagon said in a statement Tuesday night.
“The Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff informed the President yesterday about plans to redeploy 9,500 troops from Germany. The proposal that was approved not only complies with the directive of the President, but will also improve Russian deterrence, strengthen NATO will reassure allies, enhance US strategic flexibility and operational flexibility of the US European Command, and care for our service members and their families, “the Pentagon spokesman said Tuesday. Jonathan Hoffman.
“Pentagon leaders hope to report this plan to defense committees in Congress in the coming weeks, followed by consultations with NATO allies on the way forward,” added Hoffman.
The movement of 9,500 US service members from Germany resurfaces claims made by the Trump administration that NATO’s ally has been “delinquent in its payments” to NATO.
Trump has frequently dressed in NATO counterparts and has threatened to cut U.S. military support if the allies do not increase spending. Last year, while in London, Trump singled out German Chancellor Angela Merkel for failing to meet the spending target of 2% of GDP set in 2014.
“So we are paying 4 to 4.3% when Germany pays 1 to 1.2%, to a maximum of 1.2%, of a much smaller GDP. That is not fair,” Trump said in December. According to NATO figures, the US spends less than Trump pointed out, 3.42% of GDP on defense, while Germany now spends 1.38%, representing an increase of approximately 11% since 2018.
Read more: This is what each NATO country contributes financially to the world’s strongest military alliance.
Last week, senior administration officials discussed the visit of Polish President Andrzej Duda to the White House, the first by a foreign leader since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. White House officials did not offer details of the partial withdrawal of US forces from Germany and did not discuss the possibility that service members could be relocated to Poland.
Instead, officials touted Warsaw’s financial commitments to NATO, as well as the roughly $ 16 billion in foreign military sales, including the most expensive U.S. weapon system, the F-35 Lightning II fighter. .
Administration officials also answered questions on the matter in the opinion piece from White House national security adviser Robert O’Brien in The Wall Street Journal.
“The Cold War practice of barracking large numbers of troops with their families on massive bases in places like Germany is now, in part, obsolete. Modern warfare is increasingly expeditionary and requires platforms with greater reach, flexibility and Resistance. While air bases and logistics hubs remain important, the Cold War-style garrison of troops makes less military and fiscal sense than it did in the 1970s, “O’Brien wrote in a published opinion piece. The 21st of June.
He added that the 25,000 US soldiers scheduled to remain in Germany still represent a “strong” commitment to Germany by the United States.
.
