Latest news with #USEuropeanCommand
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
US considers pulling troops out of Europe
The US is preparing to enter discussions about withdrawing troops from Europe, according to its ambassador to Nato. Matthew Whitaker said proposals to remove tens of thousands of troops from the continent would be discussed 'later in the year'. Donald Trump has repeatedly admonished Nato countries for failing to meet the defence spending goal of at least 2 per cent of GDP, arguing that the disparity places an unfair burden on the United States. Asked to comment on a report that Mr Trump is considering withdrawing troops from Europe, Mr Whitaker said 'nothing has been determined' but said that allies were ready to have the discussion. 'But as soon as we do, we are going to have these conversations in the structure of Nato,' said Mr Whitaker. 'It will be certainly after the summit, sometime later in the year, we are going to start those conversations... All our allies are ready to do it,' he added, referring to the Nato summit in The Hague in June. In March, The Telegraph revealed that the US president was weighing up withdrawing some 35,000 active personnel out of Germany. Around 160,000 active-duty personnel are stationed outside of the United States, a vast quantity of whom are in the country. Mr Trump was said to be considering repositioning some troops in Europe to be closer to the Nato countries which have upped their defence spending to meet targets. The withdrawal is thought to be part of plans by the administration to redraw Nato engagement in a way that favours member countries with higher defence spending. European fears about the US commitment to Nato have been growing for some time. Pete Hegseth, the defence secretary, told Nato allies in February that 'stark strategic realities prevent the United States of America from being primarily focused on the security of Europe'. During his first term, Mr Trump ordered the withdrawal of almost 12,000 troops from Germany, where the US had several major military facilities including Ramstein Air Base, the headquarters for US European Command. But the move was halted by Joe Biden amid widespread criticism from Congress. Earlier this year, The Atlantic reported in March that Mr Hegseth and JD Vance, the vice-president, had complained about European allies in a chat group. Mr Hegseth expressed his 'loathing of European free-loading', according to the Atlantic. Such comments have fuelled anxiety about the commitment to Nato, along with Trump's threats not to protect members that spend too little on defence, and his reluctance to keep supporting Ukraine's fight against Russia's invasion. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Pentagon considers shifting Greenland to US Northern Command, sparking concerns over Trump's ambitions for the territory
Trump administration officials are weighing a change that would shift responsibility for US security interests in Greenland to the military command that oversees America's homeland defense, underscoring the president's focus on the strategically important territory that he has repeatedly said he wants to acquire, three sources familiar with the deliberations told CNN. The change under consideration would move Greenland out of US European Command's area of responsibility and into US Northern Command, the sources said. On its face, the idea of putting Greenland under NORTHCOM authority makes some logical sense given it is part of the North American continent, though politically and culturally, it is associated with Europe and is a semiautonomous territory of Denmark. Some of the discussions pre-date Trump's return to office this year, the sources said. US Northern Command declined to comment. CNN has reached out to the Office of the Secretary of Defense as well as Danish and Greenlandic officials for comment. Still, several US officials expressed wariness about the move because of Trump's repeated insistence that the US 'needs' Greenland and his refusal to rule out military action to obtain it. In an interview with NBC that aired last weekend, Trump renewed that threat. 'I don't rule it out,' he said. 'I don't say I'm going to do it, but I don't rule out anything.' 'We need Greenland very badly,' Trump said. 'Greenland is a very small amount of people, which we'll take care of, and we'll cherish them, and all of that. But we need that for international security.' US Northern Command is chiefly responsible for protecting US territory and currently oversees missions like the southern border task force. Trump's rhetoric has also caused major friction with Denmark and with Greenland itself. Putting Greenland under US Northern Command would at least symbolically split Greenland from Denmark, which would still be overseen by US European Command. Danish officials are concerned about the message that could send suggesting that Greenland is not a part of Denmark, one of the sources familiar with the deliberations said. Proponents of the move have pointed out that despite there being a US military base there and Greenland being seen as a vital outpost in competition with Russia and China for access to the Arctic — a major bipartisan national security priority — it sometimes gets overlooked by US European Command because of its distance from the command center in central Europe, one US official said. For US NORTHCOM, though, Greenland is an important vantage point for any potential enemy craft coming from that direction towards the United States. The unclassified version of the US intelligence community's annual threat assessment mentioned Greenland four times, within the context of adversaries like China and Russia seeking to expand their influence there. The discussions about moving Greenland into NORTHCOM come amid another high-profile spat between American and Danish officials over Greenland. Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said this week that he plans to 'call in' the US acting ambassador to Denmark for talks after a Wall Street Journal report said Washington had ordered US intelligence agencies to increase spying on Greenland. They were directed to learn more about Greenland's independence movement and attitudes towards American resource extraction, the Journal reported. 'I have read the article in the Wall Street Journal, and it worries me greatly because we do not spy on friends,' Rasmussen told reporters in Warsaw on Wednesday, during an informal meeting of EU foreign ministers. 'We are going to call in the US acting ambassador for a discussion at the foreign ministry to see if we can confirm this information, which is somewhat disturbing,' Rasmussen added.
Saudi Gazette
04-04-2025
- Politics
- Saudi Gazette
Senator criticizes Pentagon officials on alleged US troop drawdown in Europe
WASHINGTON — The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee has criticized Pentagon "mid-level" leadership for what he said was a misguided plan to reduce the number of US troops based in Europe. "There are some who believe now is the time to reduce drastically our military footprint in Europe," Senator Roger Wicker said at a hearing with US European Command and US Africa Command military leadership. "I'm troubled at those deeply misguided and dangerous views held by some mid-level bureaucrats within the Defense Department." It was not immediately clear what "mid-level bureaucrats" Wicker was talking about but he warned that "they've been working to pursue a US retreat from Europe and they've often been doing so without coordinating with the secretary of defense." However, neither the Defense Department nor the Pentagon has made any proposal to cut force levels there public. His criticism of any potential reduction in US support to NATO and Ukraine were a running theme throughout the hearing. Under questioning from senators, Army General Christopher Cavoli, commander of US European Command and the supreme allied commander Europe, said a potential plan by the Trump administration to relinquish the allied commander position to another nation could create problems for control over the US nuclear weapons and the tens of thousands of American troops deployed across the continent. A US general has long held the post of allied commander, a position that oversees all NATO military plans and decisions. And the US is often the largest troop contributor to NATO operations. "I think that would bring some challenges in terms of nuclear command and control. It would put us in a position where, in an Article Five situation, we could have for the first time since the First World War large numbers of American troops under non-US command," Cavoli said, referring to NATO's Article Five collective defense pledge in which an attack against one allied nation is considered an attack on all. "I think those are things that would have to be considered carefully," Cavoli said, calling any plan to give up the leadership role "problematic." He also noted that NATO allies are investing in their militaries "at a rate we haven't seen since the end of the Cold War. A 40% increase in spending since February of 2022." He said the presence of US troops in Europe has been essential to NATO's transformation and modernization efforts and is also critical to America's national defense. While there has been no official announcement about any US military drawdown in Europe, President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have both made it clear they want NATO to do more to defend its own region and that the US is turning to focus more on China and America's southern border. The US has also dropped its leadership role in the broad effort to coordinate military support for Ukraine and given the helm to the British. Both steps have worried allies, who fear the US is stepping away from its long-held commitment to Europe and NATO. The number of US troops stationed in Europe increased by about 20,000 under Trump's Democratic predecessor Joe Biden in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. They helped with training, logistics of weapons shipments and reassured allies on NATO's eastern flank that the United States would defend them. There have been roughly 100,000 troops there since, including the Navy's 6th Fleet, as well as nuclear warheads. US firepower ensures that NATO's ability to deter Russia is credible. NATO allies have expressed concern about any reduction of American troops or support in the region. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is in Brussels this week seeking to reassure NATO allies about the US commitment to the alliance under Trump. That military reassurance had been almost put into question by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who used his first visit to NATO and the Ukraine Defense Contact Group in February to tell allies that the US would be reassessing troop levels with an eye towards a greater focus on China. Hegseth told allies he was there "to directly and unambiguously express that stark strategic realities prevent the United States of America from being primarily focused on the security of Europe." Trump has tried to broker a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine, but so far that effort has faltered. — Euronews
Asharq Al-Awsat
21-02-2025
- Politics
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Vance Criticizes Germany's Free Speech Laws in Remarks to Conservatives
US Vice President JD Vance has criticized Germany's free speech laws during an appearance at a conservative gathering outside Washington, linking the country's limits against hate speech to American troops stationed there. German law sets restrictions on free speech, including the long-standing ban on Holocaust denial and any glorification of the country's Nazi past. The limits are an effort to curb extremism and incitement, and have led to authorities policing the internet for hate speech and arresting the people allegedly posting, and reposting, such comments. 'There are thousands upon thousands of American troops in Germany today. Do you think that the American taxpayer is going to stand for that, if you get thrown in jail in Germany for posting a mean tweet? Of course they're not,' Vance told activists gathered Thursday at the Conservative Political Action Conference. There are nearly 84,000 US service members in the European Theater, according to the US Department of Defense. The figure fluctuates, however, and has increased since the start of the Russia-Ukraine war on Feb. 24, 2022. The US military is stationed throughout Germany, according to US European Command, including at Ramstein Air Base. A count of US service members in Germany wasn't immediately available on Friday. Vance's remarks followed his speech earlier this month at the Munich Security Conference, where he lectured European leaders about the state of democracy and free speech across the continent. His comments were met with rebukes from multiple European leaders, including German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. 'Obviously we're going to continue to have important alliances with Europe,' Vance told CPAC moderator Mercedes Schlapp. 'But I really do think the strength of those alliances is doing to depend on whether we take our societies in the right direction.' Vance then claimed that 'Germany's entire defense is subsidized by the American taxpayers.'
Yahoo
18-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Poland's president says US not planning to reduce its European troops
Following a meeting with US Special Envoy for Ukraine Keith Kellogg in Warsaw on Tuesday, Polish President Andrzej Duda said he does not expect the United States to reduce its troop strength in Europe or withdraw all together. "There is no indication that the US will withdraw from Europe," Duda said. US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth had even promised him very clearly last week that Poland could expect an increase in US troops sooner rather than later. "There is absolutely no American intention of reducing its security activities in our part of Europe or the number of American troops," Duda said in reference to NATO's eastern flank and Poland. US President Donald Trump's demand for higher defence spending by other NATO states and US Vice President J.D. Vance's frontal attack on European democracies at the Munich Security Conference have fuelled fears in Europe that the Americans could withdraw troops from the continent. Last week Hegseth said, during a troop visit in Stuttgart, that there were no immediate plans to reduce troop levels in Europe, but he said "there is agreement that we will review the force posture worldwide." According to the US European Command (Eucom), around 78,000 US soldiers are stationed in Europe, including around 37,000 in Germany. There are around 10,000 in Poland on a rotational basis. Kellogg visited Poland on his way to Kiev, where he will meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Defence Minister Rustem Yumerov on Thursday.
