US to withdraw about 5,000 troops from Germany as NATO seeks details
The United States has announced it will withdraw about 5,000 troops from Germany over the next year, prompting concern from NATO allies and senior Republican lawmakers in Congress.
The Pentagon said the reduction was announced on Friday and is expected to be completed over the next six to twelve months.
President Donald Trump later said the cuts could go further, telling reporters the US was going to "cut way down" and would be reducing numbers "a lot further than 5,000".
NATO said it was working with the US to understand the details of the decision on force posture in Germany.
A NATO spokeswoman said the move underlined the need for Europe to invest more in defence and take on a greater share of responsibility for shared security.
The announcement matters because Germany hosts one of the largest US troop deployments in Europe.
There were 36,436 active-duty US troops in NATO ally Germany as of 31 December 2025, according to the figures cited in the supplied rows.
The decision has also drawn criticism from within Mr Trump's own party.
Senator Roger Wicker and Representative Mike Rogers, who chair the Armed Services Committees in the Senate and House, said the move risked "sending the wrong signal to Vladimir Putin".
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said the transatlantic alliance risked disintegrating and called on members to reverse what he described as a "disastrous trend".
German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said the withdrawal from Europe and from Germany was to be expected.
The rows also link the troop decision to wider tensions between Washington and European capitals.
