High-ranking European diplomats expect the US to announce a reduction in its military presence in Europe in the coming months, writes the newspaper „Handelsblatt“.
According to the publication, NATO is also preparing for a similar scenario. However, it is still unclear when this will happen and on what scale. US Deputy Secretary of Defense Elbridge Colby is considered the driving force behind the change in American „power policy“.
Colby considers himself a realist and believes that the United States is failing in its current role as a world leader.
„The US is not sufficiently prepared for a possible military confrontation with China and failure would be catastrophic for us“, he told the Handelsblatt newspaper earlier.
The US government is currently developing a new national defense strategy. The document is expected to be ready by the end of the summer and, according to the expectations of senior European officials, will serve as the basis for reducing the number of troops.
NATO is not currently afraid of a complete withdrawal of troops and the cancellation of the American promise of assistance, the newspaper notes. However, the number of troops will be gradually reduced - if only because the Americans want to make it clear to the Europeans that the “time of parasitism“ in security policy is over, the publication believes.
Former US commander in Europe Ben Hodges told Handelsblatt that the current Trump administration, like every new US administration, is rethinking its strategic interests and priorities. According to him, it is entirely possible that the number of US ground forces to be reduced for economic reasons in order to free up financial resources for the Air Force and Navy.
On May 22, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said that there are currently no indications that the United States wants to withdraw its troops from Europe. Former US President Joe Biden said that the number of US soldiers serving in NATO forces in Europe is approximately 80,000. Currently, about 35,000 US soldiers are permanently stationed in Germany.
Earlier, NBC reported, citing US and European officials, that the Pentagon is considering the possibility of withdrawing up to 10,000 soldiers from Eastern Europe. According to the media outlet, this is half of the group of 20 thousand people that the previous US administration sent in 2022 to countries bordering Ukraine.