US withdrawing 5,000 troops from Germany, US officials say

The United States is withdrawing 5,000 troops from NATO ally Germany, the Pentagon announced on Friday, as a rift over the Iran war widens between President Donald Trump and Europe.

Trump had threatened a drawdown in forces earlier this week after sparring with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz , who said on Monday the Iranians were humiliating the U.S. in talks to end the two-month-old war and that he did not see what exit strategy Washington was pursuing.

A senior Pentagon official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said recent German rhetoric had been “inappropriate and unhelpful.”

“The president is rightly reacting to these counterproductive remarks,” the official said.

The Pentagon said the withdrawal was expected to be completed over the next six to 12 months. Germany is home to some 35,000 active-duty U.S. military personnel, more than anywhere else in Europe.

The official said the drawdown would bring U.S. troop levels in Europe back to roughly pre-2022 levels, before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine triggered a buildup by then-President Joe Biden.

The official also cast the decision in terms of the Trump administration’s push for Europe to become the main security provider on the continent. But it is nonetheless another potent reminder of Trump’s willingness to respond to perceived disloyalty by allies.

Reuters exclusively reported last week an internal Pentagon email that outlined options to punish NATO allies that Washington believes failed to ​support U.S. operations in the war with Iran, including suspending Spain from NATO and reviewing the U.S. position on Britain’s claim to the Falkland Islands.

Trump has singled out Germany even as he has chastised other NATO allies for not sending their navies to help open the Strait of Hormuz during the conflict.

The waterway, a chokepoint for global oil shipments, has remained virtually shut, causing market turmoil and unprecedented disruption in energy supplies.

Merz has said Germans and Europeans were not consulted before the U.S. and Israel started attacking Iran on Feb. 28, and that he had conveyed his skepticism about the conflict directly to Trump afterwards.

“The president has been very clear about his frustrations about our allies’ rhetoric and failure to provide support for U.S. operations that benefit them,” the senior Pentagon official said.

Trump has long wanted to reduce the U.S. troop presence in Germany. He pushed for a reduction at the end of his first term, but that cut was never enacted. Trump lost the election and Biden reversed the plan.

Trump’s Wednesday announcement that he was reviewing U.S. troop levels in Germany surprised German military officials who spoke to Reuters, citing what they called constructive meetings at the Pentagon earlier in the day.

They argue that Germany has done more than other allies to support the U.S. war in Iran, including allowing the use of bases and giving permission for overflights. Germany is also home to a huge military hospital in Landstuhl.

As part of Trump’s withdrawal decision, a brigade combat team now in Germany will be pulled out of the country and a long-range fires battalion that the Biden administration had planned to begin deploying to Germany later this year will no longer deploy, the official said.

美国五角大楼周五宣布，美国将从北约盟国德国撤出 5000 名士兵。此前，美国总统唐纳德·特朗普与欧洲之间因伊朗战争而产生的裂痕不断扩大。

本周早些时候，特朗普曾威胁要撤军，此前他与德国总理弗里德里希·默茨发生争执。默茨周一表示，伊朗在结束这场持续两个月的战争的谈判中羞辱了美国，而且他看不出华盛顿正在采取什么退出战略。

一位不愿透露姓名的五角大楼高级官员表示，德国最近的言论“不恰当且无益”。

“总统对这些适得其反的言论做出反应是正确的，”这位官员说。

五角大楼表示，预计撤军将在未来6至12个月内完成。德国驻扎着约35000名现役美军人员，比欧洲其他任何地方都多。

这位官员表示，此次撤军将使美国在欧洲的驻军水平恢复到 2022 年之前的水平，也就是在俄罗斯入侵乌克兰引发时任总统乔·拜登增兵之前。

这位官员还将这一决定解读为特朗普政府推动欧洲成为非洲大陆主要安全保障力量的举措。但这无疑再次有力地表明，特朗普会毫不犹豫地对盟友的不忠行为予以回应。

路透社上周独家报道了一封五角大楼内部电子邮件，其中概述了惩罚北约盟国的选项，华盛顿方面认为这些盟国未能支持美国在对伊朗的战争中的行动，其中包括暂停西班牙的北约成员国资格，以及重新审视美国对英国对福克兰群岛主权声索的立场。

尽管特朗普斥责其他北约盟国在冲突期间没有派遣海军帮助打通霍尔木兹海峡，但他还是单独点名批评了德国。

这条水道是全球石油运输的咽喉要道，目前几乎处于关闭状态，导致市场动荡和能源供应前所未有的中断。

梅尔茨表示，在美以于 2 月 28 日开始攻击伊朗之前，德国人和欧洲人并未被征询意见，而且事后他已直接向特朗普表达了他对这场冲突的怀疑态度。

这位五角大楼高级官员表示：“总统已经非常明确地表达了他对盟友言论以及未能为有利于他们的美国行动提供支持的失望之情。”

特朗普一直希望减少驻德美军人数。他在第一任期末期力推削减驻德美军，但该削减计划最终未能实施。特朗普败选后，拜登推翻了这一计划。

特朗普周三宣布将重新评估驻德美军人数，这令接受路透社采访的德国军方官员感到惊讶，他们表示当天早些时候在五角大楼举行了建设性会议。

他们认为，德国在支持美国入侵伊朗的战争方面比其他盟国做得更多，包括允许使用军事基地和允许美军飞机飞越德国领空。此外，德国兰斯图尔还拥有一家大型军医院。

这位官员表示，作为特朗普撤军决定的一部分，目前驻扎在德国的一个旅级战斗队将被撤出该国，而拜登政府原计划于今年晚些时候开始向德国部署的一个远程火力营也将不再部署。