US withdraws some troops from Europe but denies broader pullback

BUCHAREST - The US announced it will pull a brigade combat team based on Nato’s eastern flank, prompting criticism from Republican lawmakers and spurring anxiety that a broader pullback in military support for Europe may be under way.

In a statement, the US Army Europe and Africa said one unit – the 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team of the 101st Airborne Division – will not be replaced after it makes its scheduled return to its home base in Kentucky. The statement did not give numbers, but the Pentagon previously said the unit had 4,200 soldiers. 

The statement said the decision should not be seen as a “withdrawal from Europe or a signal of lessened commitment to Nato” or to the alliance’s mutual defence clause. 

“Rather, this is a positive sign of increased European capability and responsibility,” the statement said. “This force posture adjustment will not change the security environment in Europe.”

The reduction affects only a limited number of forces out of the roughly 85,000 US troops stationed in Europe. But President Donald Trump and his team have called for Europe to play a greater role in its defence, prompting fears that he might seek to remove a substantial number of US forces. 

European leaders have expressed anxiety about a potential reduction, with many officials in the region expecting at least a reversal of a surge of some 20,000 troops under former president Joe Biden. 

The decision drew sharp criticism from the Republican chairmen of the House and Senate armed services committees, Senator Roger Wicker of Mississippi and Representative Mike Rogers of Alabama.

“Pulling back US forces from Nato’s eastern flank prematurely, and just weeks after Russian drones violated Romanian airspace, undermines deterrence and risks inviting further Russian aggression,” the lawmakers said in a joint statement. 

They called on the Pentagon to clarify how the US intends to mitigate the effects of the withdrawal and whether officials coordinated the decision with allies. The pair also sought assurances the US would keep two brigades in Poland and “sustain a persistent rotational presence in Poland, the Baltic states and Romania”.

European leaders have so far sought to play down the significance of the move.

The decision does not amount to “a full withdrawal” of US soldiers and will affect Bulgaria, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania, Romanian Defence Minister Ionut Mosteanu said earlier on Oct 29.

Allies have been urging the Trump administration to coordinate any plans to withdraw US soldiers deployed on the continent to avoid destabilising Nato’s defences and undermining the ability to deter Russian aggression amid Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

Defence officials from other European states on the eastern flank have said they have not been notified by the US of any plans for imminent troop drawdowns.

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, who supports a friendly foreign policy towards Russia, said he was not surprised by the US decision as he understood that Mr Trump needed to use resources elsewhere. 

“We need to be much more efficient in how we allocate defence spending,” the Premier told journalists. 

Changes to US military posture are not unusual, according to a Nato official who declined to be named. Even with the latest adjustment, the US has more forces on the continent than before 2022, the person said. 

Mr Trump has promised he will not pull US troops from Poland and signalled Washington could even increase its military presence there as he praised Warsaw for its robust spending on defence.

The US began rotating more troops into Nato’s eastern members following the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

“We have a lot of troops in Europe – a lot – and we can move them around a little bit, but basically we’ll be pretty much set,” Mr Trump told reporters in the Oval Office earlier in October. BLOOMBERG