Are the USA and Germany getting closer again on security issues?
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin visits his counterpart Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer.
US President Joe Biden * sends his first member of government to Berlin: Defense Minister Lloyd Austin.
In the German Ministry of Defense *, the visit is seen as a clear signal.
There are many topics - including the situation in Afghanistan and Ukraine
(see first report)
.
Update from April 13, 5:19 p.m
.: The US is
increasing
its troops in Germany by 500 soldiers.
This was announced by US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin on Tuesday after a meeting with his counterpart Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer in Berlin.
The soldiers are to be stationed in the Wiesbaden area.
"These troops will strengthen deterrence and defense in Europe," Austin said.
Last summer, shortly before being voted out of office, then US President Donald Trump announced the withdrawal of 12,000 of the approximately 35,000 US soldiers in Germany as a punitive action for what he saw as a lack of German military spending.
His successor Joe Biden had already stopped this troop withdrawal.
The fact that additional troops are now being sent to Germany comes as a surprise.
US Secretary of Defense Austin comes to Berlin: important visit in troubled times
Our first report from April 12th
: Berlin - US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin travels to Berlin in troubled times.
In Afghanistan * the deadline for a US troop withdrawal is getting closer and the situation in Eastern Ukraine is worsening.
On Tuesday (April 13), Austin will meet Federal Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer (CDU *) - and will be the first minister of the new US President * Joe Biden to visit Germany *.
After the “America first” advocate Donald Trump *, Biden is relying on a new strengthening of traditional alliances.
Between Berlin and Washington in particular, there had been a lot of crunching under Trump: The Republican regularly accused the federal government of not spending enough on defense and of allowing the United States to put up with it in terms of security policy.
US Secretary of Defense Austin meets AKK: Pentagon speaks of "closest NATO ally"
As a kind of punitive measure, Trump ordered a partial withdrawal of the US armed forces from Germany last year, which never happened.
After taking office, Biden put the project on hold and ordered Austin to conduct a comprehensive review of the global US troop presence.
During his
visit to
Germany, the 67-year-old defense minister and retired four-star general will also
visit
the regional European headquarters
US European Command (Eucom)
, which Trump wanted to relocate from Stuttgart to Mons, Belgium.
Before Austin's trip, the Pentagon was already flattering Germany as “one of our closest NATO allies”.
First Biden Minister in Berlin: GroKo under Merkel looks at the United States on the subject of Afghanistan
The first black defense minister in US history is to promote the consolidation of the transatlantic alliance on behalf of Biden.
The actions of Russia on the border with Ukraine, which are ringing the alarm bells in the West, should bring Europeans and North Americans closer together.
Close cooperation is also required when it comes to Afghanistan.
Trump had promised the radical Islamic Taliban that all foreign troops would withdraw by the end of April.
However, Biden has put this agreement to the test.
Peace talks between the government in Kabul and the Taliban have so far not been successful, and many fear new chaos if Western troops withdraw.
Berlin and the other European US allies are now impatiently awaiting what the world's strongest military power will do - especially since its own whereabouts in Afghanistan also depend on it.
+
He was still US Vice President: Chancellor Angela Merkel and Joe Biden at the 51st Security Conference in Munich in 2015.
© Andreas Gebert / dpa
Outstanding knowledge of Afghanistan: a portrait of US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin
It probably helps that Austin is very familiar with the problems in Afghanistan.
In his more than 40-year military career, the Army General was also on duty in Afghanistan.
In 2013 he then became the commander of the important US military command Centcom, which is responsible, among other things, for the Middle East and Afghanistan.
The graduate of the West Point Military Academy is also very familiar with the pitfalls of troop withdrawals.
As Commander in Chief of the US Armed Forces in Iraq *, he carried out the withdrawal of troops from the country ordered by then President Barack Obama in 2011.
In view of the unstable situation, Austin had pleaded not to withdraw completely, but to leave thousands of soldiers stationed in Iraq.
It didn't come to that.
A few years later, the US army had to return to stop the advance of the Islamic State (IS) jihadist militia.
Biden on Hindu Kush mission: "It is not my intention to stay there long"
The US is determined to prevent such a scenario in the case of Afghanistan.
At the same time, Biden is not willing to extend the military operation in the Hindu Kush forever - at least on this issue, he ticks similarly to his predecessor Trump.
"It is not my intention to stay there long," said Biden in late March.
It remains to be seen how his Defense Secretary Austin intends to resolve this trade-off.
Berlin should also be excited.
(AFP / frs) * Merkur.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA
List of rubric lists: © Michael Reynolds / Imago