Trump to view troop cut proposals

Defense Secretary Mark Esper will present US President Donald Trump with a series of options Monday to withdraw thousands of US troops from Germany, with many moving to eastern Europe, the Pentagon said on Saturday.

“Secretary Esper met with President Trump on Wednesday to discuss our presence in Europe,” said Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman.

“On Monday the Secretary will brief the President at the White House on options for our force posture in Germany.”

According to two senior Pentagon officials, the plan calls for cutting the permanent US troop presence in Germany to 25,000.

Some of the 9,500 will return to the US, while others will be transferred to former Sovietbloc countries, the two officials said, speaking on grounds of anonymity.

They did not say to which European country the troops might be moved, as that is among the options to be presented to the US president.

But Trump, meeting at the White House with Polish President Andrzej Duda, said Wednesday that Poland would be one of the European countries receiving US troops.

The two men said some of those troops would be permanently based there, but that most would be rotated through the country.

NATO promised Russia in 1997 that it would not establish permanent bases in the former East bloc. So far, the Atlantic alliance has only rotated troops through the countries geographically closest to Russia.

Moreover, one of the two Pentagon officials said, these deployments will be based on bilateral agreements between the US and the concerned countries, and will not be done under the aegis of NATO.