By Idrees Ali
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The top U.S. general in Europe said on Tuesday that the United States should keep its military presence on the continent as it is now, as the Pentagon reviews its global footprint under President Donald Trump.
The U.S. military had more than 100,000 troops in Europe following Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, but U.S. Army General Christopher Cavoli said that the number had been reduced to 80,000.
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has told European colleagues that they should not assume that the U.S. presence will last forever.
“It’s my advice to maintain that force posture as it is now,” Cavoli told lawmakers during a House Armed Services Committee hearing.
Cavoli said the military had periodically reviewed its troop levels in Europe since 2022 when Washington poured thousands of troops into the continent, but he had recommended against bringing troop levels down.
“I have consistently recommended throughout that period to maintain the forces we surged forward, and I would continue to do so if asked,” he added.
European belief in the U.S. as the continent’s ultimate protector against any attack from Russia has been severely shaken by Trump’s attempted rapprochement with Moscow and heavy pressure on Kyiv as he seeks to end the war.
The potential changes in the U.S. military presence in Europe come amid concerns there over the future of NATO, the transatlantic alliance that has been the bedrock of European security for the past 75 years.
Asked if there were any plans to move forces from NATO’s eastern flank, Cavoli said that troops frequently move around, but added: “The principal locations where we have forces right now, that’s where they are, and that’s where I’m planning to keep them.”
MOVES IN EUROPE?
During the hearing, both Republican and Democratic lawmakers said it would be a mistake to remove troops from Europe.
Katherine Thompson, who is performing the duties of assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs, told lawmakers that the global review was ongoing and would be based on “Trump’s stated interests”.
Thompson said that the Pentagon was not considering having a non-U.S. military official as NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR), a position that has only ever been held by an American.
“If the question is, is the department considering that change, my definitive answer is no,” Thompson said.
Ultimately what happens with U.S. forces in Europe will be a decision made by Hegseth and Trump.
Russia’s war in Ukraine has left hundreds of thousands of dead and injured, displaced millions of people, reduced towns to rubble and triggered the sharpest confrontation for decades between Moscow and the West.
The U.S. military said on Monday that troops and equipment would be repositioned from Jasionka, in the south-east of Poland, which is a hub through which military aid for Ukraine is delivered.
The troops will be moved to other parts of Poland.
“After three years at Jasionka, this is an opportunity to right-size our footprint and save American taxpayers tens of millions of dollars per year,” General Christopher Donahue, commanding general of U.S. Army Europe and Africa, said in a statement.
(Reporting by Idrees Ali; Editing by Mark Porter, Deepa Babington, Alistair Bell and Joe Bavier)
