US planning faster troop withdrawal from Europe amid rift: Report
United States is reportedly planning to speed up its troop withdrawal from Europe following the rift with European leaders over Iran.
On Saturday, Reuters ran a Welt am Sonntag report citing unnamed Pentagon sources as saying that the Trump administration plans to accelerate the withdrawal of troops from bases in Europe.
It added that the Trump administration will propose its pullout plans to allies at next month’s North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) gathering.
In early May, Washington had announced plans to pull out 5,000 of its 35,000 troops assigned to bases across Germany.
At the time, the Pentagon said, “We expect the withdrawal to be completed over the next six to twelve months.”
The US is due to present its new plans for an expedited exit to allies during NATO’s Force Sourcing Conference in June.
The withdrawal of US troops from Germany is widely seen as the consequence of a spat between US President Donald Trump and European leaders, particularly German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, over the US-Israeli war of aggression against Iran.
Trump had lashed out at allies over their refusal to participate in a joint military action to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Merz told university students back then that the Iranians are very skilled negotiators while “the Americans clearly have no strategy.”
Trump has also hinted at the withdrawal of US troops from its bases in Italy and Spain as well, to keep only a small portion of American troops in Europe.
The US president has been a longtime critic of the NATO alliance, insisting that the Europeans must pay America’s leadership a higher price if they want peace.
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