• Wion
  • /World
  • /Pentagon to give Trump options to reduce troops in Germany

Pentagon to give Trump options to reduce troops in Germany

Pentagon to give Trump options to reduce troops in Germany

Donald Trump

Pentagon will soon give US President Donald Trump with a series of options on Monday to withdraw thousands of troops from Germany, with many moving to eastern Europe.

Defence Secretary Mark Esper, Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said, on Monday will brief Trump on options for our force posture in Germany.

Trump's announcement of a troop shift came not long after German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced she would not attend a G-7 summit the US president wanted to host this month. The two have long had a strained relationship.

Add WION as a Preferred Source

The plan calls for cutting the permanent US troop presence in Germany to 25,000, as Trump announced June 15, for a reduction of 9,500 troops. Some of the 9,500 will return to the US, while others will be transferred to former Soviet-bloc countries.

That shift would be meant as a clear warning to President Vladimir Putin of Russia, whose military ambitions were underscored by the 2014 annexation of the Crimea.

It is being said that Poland would be one of the European countries receiving US troops.

These deployments will be based on bilateral agreements between the US and the concerned countries, and will not be done under the aegis of NATO.