May 2 (Reuters) – Two top Republican lawmakers expressed concern on Saturday about the Pentagon’s decision to withdraw 5,000 troops from NATO ally Germany.
• “We are very concerned by the decision to withdraw a U.S. brigade from Germany,” U.S. Senator Roger Wicker and U.S. Representative Mike Rogers said in a joint statement.
• Wicker, a Republican elected from Mississippi, and Rogers, from Alabama, chair the Senate and House Armed Services Committees, respectively.
• Their statement was issued a day after the Pentagon announced the withdrawal and said the move was expected to be completed over the next six to 12 months.
• U.S. President Donald 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.
• Wicker and Rogers said that any significant change to the U.S. military’s presence in Europe must be reviewed and coordinated with Congress and U.S. allies.
• “We expect the Department to engage with its oversight committees in the days and weeks ahead on this decision and its implications for U.S. deterrence and transatlantic security,” they said in the statement.
• Even if NATO allies raise defense spending to 5% of GDP, building the capabilities to take over conventional deterrence will take time, and prematurely cutting U.S. forces in Europe “risks undermining deterrence and sending the wrong signal to (Russian President) Vladimir Putin,” they said in the statement.
(Reporting by Ismail Shakil, editing by Ross Colvin/Keith Weir)
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