Berlin: President Trump has approved the plan to withdraw nearly 9,500 US soldiers deployed in Germany. Although an official reaction has not been received from Germany, on this matter, two of the senior members of the German cabinet have expressed concerns over the development. Similarly, other NATO member countries from Europe also have been concerned over the US decision.
The United States will not be incurring enormous expenses for the security of NATO member countries. President Trump had warned that the NATO member countries should come forward to share the burden of the expenses. Trump had demanded that the NATO members should make a provision of an amount equivalent to 2% of their GDP for defence. The warning seems to become a reality, as the demand made by President Trump was not fulfilled.
The United States will withdraw 9,500 of its soldiers from Germany in the month of September. It is said that there are nearly 25,000 soldiers at the US base in Germany. The US media informed that out of these, 9,500 soldiers would either be called back or will be deployed elsewhere. The US soldiers are stationed in Germany since the second world war. This deployment in Germany was made in view of the perceived threat from Soviet Russia, and in the times after that, the deployment was considered essential for the security of other countries in the European region too. But after Donald Trump became the President of the United States, he appealed to the NATO member countries to share the expense burden for this deployment. President Trump had said the United States had incurred enormous expenditures for the security of the NATO countries. He warned that the NATO members should share the burden of defence expenditure, and the United States will not continue to bear the additional responsibility for the NATO countries.
Following the denial from the NATO countries to accept the demand made by President Trump, he threatened to withdraw US soldiers from European member countries, including Germany. But now, Trump seems to be realising the threat. In September, 9,500 soldiers from Germany base will be withdrawn. The Polish Prime Minister expressed confidence that many of these soldiers will be deployed in Poland. Before this, the United States had taken a decision to deploy missile defence systems in Poland. The United States had also taken the decision to establish a military base in view of the Russian threat to Poland. Poland had agreed for financial compensation for the military base. Therefore, it is claimed that the soldiers withdrawn from Germany will be deployed in Poland. The statement made by the Polish Prime Minister indicates the same thing. At the same time, there has been no official reaction received from the United States on the subject. It has already been exposed that the United States and Germany have profound differences over NATO expenses. German Chancellor Angela Merkel is of the opinion that the Russian threat does not exist anymore for Germany, and hence there is no need for the US soldiers to be stationed in Germany. At the same time, Merkel has also voiced her opinion that NATO is out of date, and there is a need for the European countries to build a joint military. The NATO chief has already warned that the proposal for a joint European army is dangerous, as it will not be able to withstand the Russian onslaught. Still, the German leadership is not willing to give up the idea. Instead, Germany and Russia have agreed on ‘Nord Stream 2’ for the supply of fuel. This clearly is the reason why German leadership feels that the Russian threat for Germany is over.
At the same time, a country like Poland is consistently voicing fears of Russia aggression. This is all the background for the decision taken by the US President.
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