Trump challenges Merkel with the withdrawal of troops from Germany

The determination of US President Donald Trump to reduce the number of soldiers stationed in Germany is a challenge to German Chancellor Angela Merkel and a setback for the stability of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which has been affected on several fronts in recent times. 

The initiative consists of withdrawing up to 9,500 troops from German territory in September, reducing the number of American troops stationed there from the current 34,500 to 25,000. This number would be the permanent limit; a shocking figure because, depending on the needs, the US forces in that country can add up to 52,000 military at certain times, according to data provided by The Wall Street Journal. 

The Republican leader confirmed on Monday that the number of soldiers stationed in the German area has dropped to 25,000, which means a significant reduction in the number of American forces stationed in the European country. 

Several groups explain this American initiative as a measure of pressure from Trump to Merkel to get the German chancellor more involved and to grant more funding to the Atlantic Alliance. "Until they pay we are going to withdraw our soldiers, about half of them; they will stay about 25,000 and we will see where we go from there, but Germany has become a defaulter. Why should we continue to do what we do if they are not going to pay,?" the American leader said at a press conference at the White House.

The European NATO allies did not initially believe one hundred percent in the leaks that occurred days ago about the drastic reduction of American troops in Germany. But, after the official confirmation made by Donald Trump, within the Atlantic Alliance there is a strong interest in demonstrating to Washington that the decision would be counterproductive for the security of the United States; or, at least, to convince it to compensate the exit from Germanic territory with an increase of the military presence in other areas of the European continent. 

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told a news conference Tuesday that he spoke to Trump about the issue last week. The Norwegian leader stressed that the presence of American troops on European soil "is the core of the transatlantic alliance" and that "it is also good for the US because we must remember that peace and stability in Europe is also, of course, important for America".

Stoltenberg had already remarked during a press conference a few days ago, when there were rumors about the U.S. intention to withdraw soldiers from Germany, which did not attend to leaks, but he did point out that there is always consultation "with the U.S. and other allies about the position and military presence in Europe". The Norwegian leader pointed out that the American giant has been increasing the presence of its troops in Europe "not only in Germany", but also in other places. For example, he recalled the deployment of a new American contingent on European territory, specifically a battalion in Poland, along with a rotating presence in the Baltic countries and more troops in Romania, including a base for missile defense, and in Spain, specifically at the southern base in Rota. "We see in recent years more presence of the U.S., more investment in equipment. More presence in the Black Sea and the Mediterranean," the NATO Secretary General said a few days ago. 

In this line defended by Jens Stoltenberg, the Atlantic Alliance wants a stronger presence of the United States and its detachments in the Old Continent, so Donald Trump's latest announcement seems worrying as it goes in the opposite direction and means a challenge for Angela Merkel, one of the visible heads within NATO and the European Union (EU). 

NATO is an organization that emerged after the signing of the Washington Treaty in 1949 as a response to the situation posed by the last Cold War, a hidden diplomatic conflict between the former communist bloc led by the extinct Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) and the Western capitalist bloc, with the United States as the maximum exponent. After the fall of communism, NATO has survived despite the fact that the traditional enemy represented by the former Warsaw Pact no longer existed.

A NATO that is now being questioned by issues that affect its stability, such as the decrease in the number of American troops in Germany or the position of Turkey, a member state that has changed its defence strategy towards the postulates of countries not attached to the Atlantic orbit, such as Vladimir Putin's Russia; and that, in addition, it participates in wars such as that of Libya and Syria, since the main interest now of the nation presided over by Recep Tayyip Erdogan is to have a greater positioning in the Mediterranean as an important geostrategic area with great importance for gas and oil resources. 

One of the last international players to take a very firm stand against Turkish belligerence has been France. In an official statement from the French Presidency, the Ottoman attitude was described as "intolerable" and "unacceptable". "The Turks are behaving in an unacceptable way by instrumentalizing NATO and France cannot let go." The Elysée's article also denounces "Turkey's increasingly aggressive and firm policy, with seven Turkish ships positioned opposite Libya and the constant violation of the arms embargo", which has weighed on the North African nation since 2011, when the civil war that confronts the Government of National Accord (GNA) broke out, The Turkish government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, with military support and paid mercenary militias from the Syrian war attached to groups linked to jihadist terrorism, is covering Prime Minister Fayez Sarraj's campaign against Marshal Khalifa Haftar's Libyan National Army (LNA).

Ankara is increasingly criticised for its foreign policy movements aimed at expanding its influence in the Mediterranean. 

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas yesterday told the EU about the pressure Donald Trump is exerting by withdrawing some of his troops from German military bases. Their presence is "important, not only for Germany, but also for the security of the United States, but in particular for the security of Europe as a whole," said Maas, who reacted to the Trump Administration's announcement during a visit to Poland, in which there were suspicions because Warsaw does not hide its interest in receiving American soldiers who leave Germany. "We have taken note. We have no more specific information about when, how or what will be implemented by the State Department or the Pentagon. We have not received any information and we are waiting," said the German minister, underlining the improvised and unilateral nature of the measure. 

Many experts believe that this measure could weaken the transatlantic military alliance embodied in NATO. In addition to concerns about its strategic consequences, the proposal has caused discomfort in Europe as it appears to have been designed by the United States unilaterally. "This is completely unacceptable, especially since no one in Washington thought to inform Germany, a NATO ally, in advance," Peter Beyer, Merkel's coordinator for transatlantic relations, told the Rheinische Post.