BRUSSELS (AP) 鈥� NATO鈥檚 top military officer said Tuesday that he doesn’t expect any from Europe 鈥� at least not anytime soon 鈥� beyond the 5,000 that U.S. President announced would leave the continent.
The remarks by U.S. Lt. Gen. Alex Grynkewich follow Trump’s surprise announcement of the move early this month. The U.S. leader has and .
The Pentagon later said it would draw down thousands of troops in Europe by canceling deployments to Poland and Germany as opposed to yanking out forces already stationed there.
Trump’s announcement blindsided NATO and came despite U.S. promises to coordinate military moves with its allies and avoid creating security gaps.
鈥淚t will be 5,000 troops coming out of Europe,鈥� Grynkewich told reporters at NATO headquarters in Brussels, where top officers from across the 32-nation military organization were meeting. 鈥渓t鈥檚 all that I鈥檓 expecting in the near term.鈥�
Trump was notably angry at Germany, after said the United States was being 鈥渉umiliated鈥� by the Iranian leadership and criticized what he called a .
Initially it was thought that more cuts might be coming and Grynkewich鈥檚 remarks could allay those fears.
As things stand now, some 4,000 troops from the Army鈥檚 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team will no longer go to Poland as planned, and the deployment to Germany of around 1,000 personnel trained to fire long-range rockets and missiles has been halted. Much of the detail is still being worked out.
Grynkewich said that he spoke earlier in the day to military chiefs on the front line with Ukraine and Russia 鈥� commanders from Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland 鈥� about 鈥渟ome of the options and how we might array capabilities on the eastern flank.鈥�
He insisted that security in Europe would not be compromised but warned European allies should expect more drawdowns in coming years.
鈥淥ver the long term, we absolutely should expect additional redeployments as European continues to build capability and capacity and step up to provide more of the conventional defense of Europe,鈥� Grynkewich said.
鈥淚t鈥檚 going to be an ongoing process for several years,鈥� he said, but added: 鈥淲e鈥檙e going to stay well-synchronized with our allies moving forward.鈥�
The number of troops leaving remains small compared to the 80,000 U.S. personnel estimated to be stationed in Europe and has not alarmed allies, but their uncoordinated departure and the view that Germany was being punished has.
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