The German government said that it has not received official confirmation from Washington about US plans to withdraw thousands of soldiers from the country.
Earlier, US media had reported that President Donald Trump plans to pull out nearly 10,000 American troops from Germany by September. However, Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer said at a media conference on Monday that she had not had official confirmation from Washington.
Kramp-Karrenbauer emphasized that US troops stationed in Germany also served the security of the United States within the framework of the NATO alliance and would significantly reduce US commitment to European defense.
Johann Wadephul, a senior member of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative CDU party, said the US plan to withdraw troops without consulting NATO allies shows that the Trump administration is “neglecting an elementary leadership task: involving alliance partners in the decision-making process.”
Last week, US media cited a high-ranking US official in reporting that Trump had ordered the Pentagon to cut the American Army’s presence in Germany.
US outlets reported that the American side plans to withdraw up to 9,500 of its military. Meanwhile, German news outlet Der Spiegel wrote that by autumn this year, the United States could withdraw between 5,000 to 15,000 of its troops. At the moment, Germany hosts around 34,000 American soldiers. That’s more than any other country in Europe, while the main headquarters for US military forces in Africa and Europe are based in Stuttgart, Germany.
Trump has repeatedly complained that Germany, as a member of NATO, does not fulfill its obligation to contribute at least two percent of its gross domestic product to the defense budget, and threatened to partially withdraw troops from Germany in 2019.
But Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government has pledged to increase its defense spending by the agreed target date of 2024.
Meanwhile, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki expressed hope that the number of soldiers and officers from the United States in his country will increase, including through the transfer of troops from Germany.
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