US withdrawal plans overshadow NATO ministers' conference

The NATO defense ministers actually wanted to send a signal of unity towards Russia this Wednesday. Following the recent announcements by US President Donald Trump, another exercise in mitigation is pending.

Brussels (AP) - Federal Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer sent cautionary words shortly before two-day talks with NATO colleagues towards the powerful alliance partner USA.

"NATO is not a trade organization and security is not a commodity," said the CDU politician at an event organized by the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung in Berlin. The defense alliance is based on solidarity and trust.

Kramp-Karrenbauer responded with the comments to the partial withdrawal of troops from Germany planned by the United States. US President Donald Trump announced on Monday that only 25,000 instead of 34,500 US soldiers will be stationed in Germany in the future. Trump wants to punish Germany for what he considers to be too little defense spending. This could work because locations affected by troop withdrawals could face significant economic losses.

Since Trump made the decision to withdraw troops without prior consultation with the German government or other NATO partners, the issue is now overshadowing consultations by the Defense Ministers of the Allies beginning on Wednesday. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said he expected talks because the topic was relevant to the entire alliance.

He also referred to the importance of Germany as a location for the US armed forces. For example, bases such as the US Air Force base in Ramstein (Rhineland-Palatinate) were recently indispensable for the American missions in Afghanistan, Iraq and the Middle East.

The withdrawal from Germany, according to CDU politician Norbert Röttgen, is hurting America in particular. Only a small proportion of the approximately 34,500 soldiers have the function of contributing to Germany's security. The much larger part is in the country for logistical reasons and is deployed abroad. "A withdrawal would therefore primarily mean a substantial weakening of US interests," said the candidate for the CDU chairmanship of the "Passauer Neue Presse".

Trump and his government should not be equated with the transatlantic relationship, emphasized Röttgen. "Our relationship with the United States has grown historically and broadly, and remains desirable and irreplaceable with all the difficulties we are currently experiencing."

The defense ministers' deliberations are supposed to focus on issues such as NATO's handling of the deployment of nuclear missile-capable Russian cruise missiles in Europe. In return, the alliance wants to expand ground-based air defense systems and adapt exercises and reconnaissance capacities. In addition, the so-called Nuclear Planning Group is to talk about possible adjustments to the nuclear deterrent.

The deterrence could be expanded, for example, by additional exercises with atomic bombers or nuclear-armed submarines. So far, only plans for the stationing of new land-based nuclear medium-range weapons have been excluded.

The official topics of the two-day video conference are the ongoing alliance missions in Afghanistan and Iraq, and NATO's preparations for a possible second wave of the corona pandemic. According to Stoltenberg, the defense ministers want to approve a corona operation plan. In addition, a stock of medical equipment is to be built up and a crisis fund is to be set up.