A planned US troop reduction in Germany has again triggered fears that Washington is weakening NATO’s deterrence abilities and demonstrating a lack of commitment to European allies as America shifts its focus to other parts of the globe. Marcin Zaborowski, TVP World’s Europe Editor, said on the News in Depth program that the US move comes at a time when Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine is ongoing and Moscow remains as “unpredictable” and “belligerent” as it was in 2022. Pushback in Washington The Pentagon’s plan to withdraw around 5,000 US troops from Germany has drawn criticism from senior Republicans in Congress. Senator Roger Wicker and Representative Mike Rogers have warned that cutting America’s forward presence in Europe too early could undermine deterrence and “send the wrong signal” to Vladimir Putin. They argued that, if the troops are moved at all, they should be redeployed to NATO’s eastern flank rather than brought home. Zaborowski said Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s explanation that US troops in Europe must be available for crises elsewhere was “misleading” when applied to Germany. He added that Berlin had not, to his knowledge, denied the US access to German bases or airspace during America’s war against Iran. NATO’s front line Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski has said Warsaw would welcome more American troops, stressing that Poland subsidizes their presence and continues to buy major military equipment from the US. Zaborowski said moving soldiers eastward would be logical, as Germany was NATO’s front line during the Cold War, while today that role belongs to Poland, Lithuania and the Baltic states. But he warned that any permanent redeployment would require major infrastructure for soldiers and their families.
