The Trump administration is again testing transatlantic patience, delivering a quiet heads-up to several European capitals about its looming plan to make a marginal scale-back of US forces in Eastern Europe next month – a move that’s already prompting bipartisan blowback on Capitol Hill and fresh questions about Washington’s long-term commitment to NATO’s eastern flank.
Just as outrage builds over the planned withdrawal of a rotational US brigade from Romania, multiple sources tell Kyiv Post the adjustment is only the opening act.
Behind closed doors, administration officials have signaled to allies that the Romanian cuts are merely phase one, with further reductions in Bulgaria, Hungary and Slovakia expected to follow as soon as mid-December – a timeline that’s raising eyebrows among NATO diplomats scrambling to assess what it means for deterrence along the alliance’s most exposed frontier.
Two Western officials with knowledge of US discussions with European partners said the Pentagon is weighing a modest drawdown of forces in part because European land armies are now seen as better prepared than in previous years, making a limited recalibration of the US presence “appropriate.”
The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of diplomatic communications, said allies were briefed to anticipate a “likely” chance of further adjustments next year, once current rotational deployments wind down. A US cable described the planned reductions in Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, and Slovakia as “marginal.”
To reassure nervous allies, administration officials emphasized that US troop levels in Poland and the Baltic states – the alliance’s most fortified eastern positions – will remain unchanged.
Veteran diplomat Daniel Fried, a former assistant secretary of state and one of the architects of post-Cold War US policy in Eastern Europe, described the decision as “a bureaucratic compromise” – a symbolic concession to those inside the administration pushing for far larger cuts.
Posted by John3262005
3 Comments
They are freeing up troops to deploy them to the Caribbean imo.
I don’t really understand why we have troops in slovakia or hungry. What does NATO even care? Poland and Romania sure, they are border countries, but why keep troops in the middle of Europe unless they serve worldwide logistics purposes (Germany)?
Honestly we should be doing this anyways to pivot the Pacific but I doubt Trump is doing this correctly.