NATO chief plays down Trump's decision to pull US troops out of Germany
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg on Tuesday tried to dampen fears that the United States would pull thousands of troops out of Germany when the alliance faces an increasingly belligerent Russia.
"It's not yet decided how and when this decision will be implemented," Mr Stoltenberg said in Brussels, after Donald Trump confirmed reports of a cut of 9,500 troops.
"The US presence in Europe is not only about protecting Europe, but it's also about protecting US power beyond Europe," he said he told the US president.
Mr Trump branded NATO ally Germany “delinquent” on Monday for not meeting a goal set in 2014 for members to halt budget cuts and move toward spending at least 2 per cent of gross national product on defence by 2024.
Alliance defence ministers will discuss Mr Trump's plans to cut troops based in Germany, a hub for US operations in the Middle East and home to its European command headquarters, by a third to 25,000 during video talks on Wednesday and Thursday.
The US, which will retain some 50,000 military personnel in Europe, may use the meeting to brief allies on the decision for the first time, two NATO diplomats said.
The defence ministers will also sign off on a package of measures against Russia, including military exercises and bulk buying of air defence equipment after Moscow illegally beefed up its missile arsenal.
Britain and the US are leading the push, which will remind Vladimir Putin of their nuclear arsenal and bring transatlantic security under a new “umbrella” for the first time in the Alliance’s 71-year history. Sources described the move as “a significant step forward”.
In London, Boris Johnson suggested that UK aid money could be redirected from African to Eastern European countries on Russia’s border, as he announced a merger of the Foreign Office and the Department for International Development.
“We give as much aid to Zambia as we do to Ukraine, although the latter is vital for European security,” the prime minister said.
“We give ten times as much aid to Tanzania as we do to the six countries of the Western Balkans who are acutely vulnerable to Russian meddling”.
Mr Stoltenberg said he was consulting with German Defence Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer. She said last week she had not been informed of the decision to pull US troops out of Germany.
He refused to answer questions over whether Mr Trump’s decision was influenced by November’s presidential elections.
Within German politics, only the opposition Free Democrats say Berlin should have done more to appease the Trump administration by increasing its military budget to the 2 percent target agreed upon by NATO.
“The transatlantic partnership has become a form of blackmail,” warned Left Party leader Dietmar Bartsch, adding that Berlin should now drop its commitment to the Nato defence spending target.
Johann Wadephul, an MP for the ruling CDU, said “the actions and their justification are wrong and will weaken Nato. Germany is strengthening its defence capabilities even during the corona crisis.”
"US troops [...] are not there to defend Germany. They are there to defend trans-Atlantic security. They are also there to project American power in Africa, in Asia,” Germany’s ambassador to the US, Emily Haber, said.
Retired US general Ben Hodges, who commanded American army forces in Europe, described it as a "colossal mistake".
"If they go through with it, the damage to the relationship between Germany and the United States would be significant," he told Reuters.
NATO diplomats said Mr Trump had made similar but ultimately empty threats in the past about troop withdrawals elsewhere in the world.
They added that repositioning large numbers of troops is both expensive and logistically complicated. There is speculation the soldiers could move to Poland, where the government is friendly to Mr Trump.
