U.S. troop deployments to Romania are being scaled back as part of a Pentagon plan to reduce force levels in Europe, the Romanian defense ministry said Wednesday.
The plan calls for ending the rotation of a U.S. Army brigade to Romania that also had elements dispersed across several other countries in the Black Sea region, the ministry said in a statement.
"The resizing of U.S. forces is an effect of the new priorities of the presidential administration, announced as early as February," according to the statement, which added that the decision had been expected.
The U.S. began rotating a brigade to Romania in the aftermath of Russia's 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The increased troop presence in Romania and other parts of the eastern flank was intended to reassure allies unsettled by Russian aggression in Europe and deter Moscow from potentially making a move on NATO territory.
The decision means the 101st Airborne Division's 2nd Brigade, which is close to wrapping up a nine-month deployment in Romania, won't be backfilled.
Inside the Pentagon, there has been an ongoing debate about whether to curtail troop rotations in Romania. In 2023, the Defense Department considered the idea but opted to continue sending rotational brigades.
Romanian officials said the Pentagon's plan now calls for about 1,000 U.S. troops to be positioned in the country, down from several thousand.
The decision took into account the fact that NATO has strengthened its presence on the alliance's eastern flank, and that allows the United States to adjust its military posture in the region, the Romanian statement said.
Posted by John3262005
2 Comments
Not a good trend. No doubt there’ll be more from where that came from. Eastern Europe is so fucked, our allies are the US and Western Europe, neither of which are reliable or can be counted on to fullfil Article V obligations in case of war.
Don’t think this is too big of an issue. Pretty common and at least some of these troops will likely go to Poland.
“A NATO official quoted by Reuters said on Wednesday that “adjustments to U.S. force posture are not unusual,” adding that “even with this adjustment, the U.S. force posture in Europe remains larger than it has been for many years”. “