Pentagon officials said Friday they are pulling 5,000 troops out of Germany and will redeploy them to the United States and other overseas bases.
The Department of Defense is also canceling a plan developed under the Biden administration to place a missile-armed military unit in Europe.
The moves would bring US troops in Europe back to the level they were in 2022, before Russia went to war in Ukraine, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the planning process. Last year, the Pentagon redeployed a brigade to Romania and did not send replacement troops.
Sean Parnell, Pentagon spokesman, said in a statement that the withdrawal will be completed in the next six to 12 months.
“This decision follows a thorough examination of the situation of the troops in Europe and is in line with the needs of the theater and the existing conditions,” he said.
The Department of Defense – especially during both terms of President Trump – has been considering reducing the military presence in Germany for several years. But senior defense officials have made it clear in private that they want the move to be seen as punitive to Germany, whose recent comments on America’s war on Iran have angered Mr.
Earlier this week, the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, said Iran had “humiliated” the United States, and asked whether Mr.
“The Americans clearly don’t have a plan,” said Mr. Merz.
Mr. Trump then took to the social networking site Truth Social, to go public.
“The United States is studying and reviewing possible troop reductions in Germany, with a determination to be made in the next short term,” he wrote Thursday.
Later, he added: “The German Chancellor should spend more time on ending the war with Russia/Ukraine (In which he did not succeed at all!), and fixing his broken country, especially Immigration and Energy, and less time on distracting those who end the Iran Nuclear threat, thus making the World, including Germany, a safer place!
On Friday, while announcing the decision, a senior Pentagon official said Germany’s failure to contribute to Iran’s war effort had frustrated the United States, and that the country’s rhetoric was inappropriate and unhelpful.
The announcement, and criticism of Germany, represents a shift in Pentagon officials, who have recently praised Germany’s efforts to increase military spending and take more responsibility for supporting Ukraine.
Even if the Pentagon withdraws 5,000 troops from Germany, the country will still host the second largest US military force in the world, more than 30,000, behind only Japan.
Defense officials say the United States depends on its bases in Germany to conduct many of its operations in the Middle East, Europe and Africa.
The Iran war made that clear. Many US troops were removed from bases in the Middle East controlled by Iran and moved to Germany. And many US soldiers wounded in the war were taken to Germany – to the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center near Ramstein Air Base – for treatment.
The US military’s Africa Command and European Command are also active in Germany.
Defense officials said the cuts would not directly affect Landstuhl or other medical facilities in Germany where US soldiers receive care.
