US withdrawing 5000 troops from Germany: Pentagon
The United States plans to withdraw 5000 troops from Germany, the Pentagon says.
The United States is withdrawing 5000 troops from NATO ally Germany, the Pentagon announced, as a rift over the Iran war widens between President Donald Trump and Europe.
Mr Trump had threatened a drawdown in forces earlier this week after sparring with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who said on Monday the Iranians were humiliating the US in talks to end the two-month-old war.
A senior Pentagon official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said recent German rhetoric had been “inappropriate and unhelpful.”
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.“The president is rightly reacting to these counterproductive remarks,” the official said.
The Pentagon said the withdrawal was expected to be completed over the next six to 12 months.
The official said the drawdown would bring US troop levels in Europe back to roughly pre-2022 levels, before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine triggered a build-up by then president Joe Biden.
A brigade combat team now in Germany will be pulled out of the country and a long-range fires battalion that the Biden administration had planned to begin deploying to Germany later this year will no longer deploy, the official said.
Germany is the US military’s biggest basing location in Europe, with some 36,000 active duty military personnel, and serves as a key training hub.
Mr Trump has singled out Germany even as he has harshly criticised other NATO allies for not sending their navies to help open the Strait of Hormuz during the conflict.
The waterway, a chokepoint for global oil shipments, has remained virtually shut, causing market turmoil and unprecedented disruption in energy supplies.
Merz has said Germans and Europeans were not consulted before the US and Israel started attacking Iran on February 28, and that he had conveyed his scepticism about the conflict directly to Trump afterwards.
“The president has been very clear about his frustrations about our allies’ rhetoric and failure to provide support for US operations that benefit them,” the senior Pentagon official said.
