The Pentagon said Friday that the U.S. will withdraw 5,000 troops from military bases in Germany, following through on a threat U.S. President Donald Trump made after sparring with the country’s leader over the Iran war.
It amounts to a relatively minor drawdown of a buildup that began under President Joe Biden in response to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. There will still be about 33,000 U.S. troops in Germany
Trump, who has repeatedly complained that NATO countries had failed to assist the attack on Iran, has warned for months that the U.S. would pull forces from Europe.
Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said in a statement that U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the withdrawal after reviewing U.S. troop buildup in Europe and is in response to “theater requirements and conditions on the ground.”
“The Secretary of War has ordered the withdrawal of approximately 5,000 troops from Germany,” Parnell said. “We expect the withdrawal to be completed over the next six to twelve months.”
Trump first floated withdrawing troops from Germany on Wednesday as an extension of his frustration over NATO and European allies measured support for the war in Iran. That proposal surprised Pentagon officials, who had not heard of a troop pullback floated as a possibility prior to the president’s threat in a social media post.
There are 38,000 U.S. troops stationed in Germany, home to U.S. European Command and Africa Command — by far the largest deployment of American forces in Europe.
The Pentagon concluded its review of U.S. military posture around the globe earlier this year. That report did not call for a major withdrawal of troops from Europe, but it did pledge to commit more military assets to the Western Hemisphere and the Pacific and leave European security to European nations.
Earlier this year the Pentagon announced it would not replace an Army brigade that was scheduled to leave Romania, setting off alarm bells within NATO. But the Romania and Germany withdrawals should not have any major effect on European security, especially as most NATO allies are spending more on their own military capabilities and in increasing the size of their armed forces.
Not all Republicans agreed with the Pentagon’s order. Brad Bowman, a former national security adviser to Republican Sens. Kelly Ayotte and Todd Young, said withdrawing troops from Germany would primarily hurt the U.S. and benefit U.S. adversaries like Russia.
“U.S. military posture in Europe, including in Germany, not only strengthens deterrence against additional Kremlin aggression but also facilitates the projection of American military power into the Mediterranean,” Bowman said.
Leo Shane III contributed to this report.
