The Republican chairmen of the Senate and House Armed Services Committees publicly expressed their opposition to the Pentagon‘s decision to reduce its presence in Europe on Wednesday.
Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS) and Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL) released a joint statement stating that they “strongly oppose the decision not to maintain the rotational U.S. brigade in Romania and the Pentagon’s process for its ongoing force posture review that may result in further drawdowns of U.S. forces from Eastern Europe.”
Their condemnation came hours after Romania’s Ministry of National Defense released a statement saying it had been “informed about the withdrawal of some of the American troops deployed on NATO’s Eastern Flank, as part of the process of reassessing the global posture of US military forces.”
The Pentagon is bringing home roughly 700 troops with the 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team of the 101st Airborne Division, while they will not be replaced.
The announcement was not unexpected, as the administration has publicly talked about reshaping the military’s focus away from Europe by having U.S. allies on the continent increase their defense spending and their collective military power.
“This is not an American withdrawal from Europe or a signal of lessened commitment to NATO and Article 5,” U.S. Army Europe and Africa said in a statement. “Rather this is a positive sign of increased European capability and responsibility. Our NATO allies are meeting President Trump’s call to take primary responsibility for their conventional defense of Europe.”
About 1,000 U.S. troops will remain in Romania.
The Trump administration has fervently pushed its European allies to increase defense spending and persuaded the NATO alliance to increase the defense spending minimum from 2% of the country’s gross domestic product to 5% GDP.
“The downsizing of the US forces is an effect of the new priorities of the presidential administration,” the Romanian ministry said.
The two Republican chairmen praised Trump’s effort to get NATO allies to take their security into their own hands but said the decision to pull back troops, especially in light of multiple recent aerial incursions into allied airspace believed to be Russian origin, sends the “wrong signal” to Moscow.
“Pulling back U.S. forces from NATO’s Eastern flank prematurely, and just weeks after Russian drones violated Romanian airspace, undermines deterrence and risks inviting further Russian aggression,” they said. “This decision also sends the wrong signal to Russia at the very moment President Trump is applying pressure to force Vladimir Putin to come to the table to achieve a lasting peace in Ukraine.”
The two leaders issued a joint statement back in March when the subject of a possible troop reduction in Europe was first reported.
WHILE YOU WERE ASLEEP: THREE THINGS YOU MISSED ON TRUMP’S WHIRLWIND TOKYO TRIP
The Trump administration has taken a much greater emphasis on trying to end the Russia-Ukraine war than the Biden administration, which declared it would support Ukraine indefinitely, but has had little success in convincing Russian leader Vladimir Putin to negotiate a deal to end the war that has been going on for more than three and a half years.
Despite the U.S. overtures, Moscow has not shown an interest in negotiating to end the war, instead looking at the diplomatic efforts as a way to accomplish the goals they’ve been unable to meet militarily.
