US Suspended Troop Withdrawal from Germany

Biden's team is reviewing the decision made by the Trump administration, but has not yet clarified the future troop strength in Europe. President Joe Biden's team has suspended plans to withdraw thousands of American troops from Germany and is reviewing this decision by the previous administration. This was stated by the commander of the US forces in Europe, General Tod Wolters, Politico reports on Thursday, February 4. According to Wolters, the new Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, is "in the process of doing a very, very thorough review" of the plan. "Pre-planning, which had continued on preliminary initiative, has been put on hold so that our Secretary of Defense and this administration can conduct a thorough analysis of everything that happened before Secretary of State (Secretary of Defense - ed.) Austin took office," he said. At the same time, he does not know what decision the Biden administration will make regarding the future troop strength in Europe. "What I’ll say at the moment is that all options have been postponed and all of them will be reviewed," he concluded. Recall that ex-US President Donald Trump decided to reduce the number of American troops in Germany to 25 thousand. The head of the White House explained his decision by the fact that Berlin pays only 1% of GDP to NATO, although it should pay 2%. Thus, according to Trump, Germany is bringing the alliance down. In turn, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas called the reduction of the American contingent not surprising, describing the relations between the two countries as difficult.