US President Donald Trump has no serious reason to withdraw some of the troops from Germany, he just thinks that Berlin “deserves it”, ex-Trump’s national security adviser John Bolton is sure.
According to Bolton, the statements of the American leader about the insufficient spending of the FRG on the US military are unconvincing as a reason for the reduction in the contingent.
In his book “The Room Where It All Happened,” the former official portrayed Trump as an unpredictable president, for whom the main thing is to be reelected for a new term, German television channel N-TV notes on August 7.
According to Bolton, Washington has many reasons to leave the military in Germany, and Trump’s re-election would threaten to split NATO, since the US president does not see any advantages in the alliance for his country.
In addition, Bolton is of the opinion that Trump’s attacks on Germany are driven by its economic strength.
“However, I don’t think it has anything to do with Chancellor Merkel,” the ex-adviser said.
On July 29, the head of the Pentagon, Mark Esper, announced the withdrawal of 11.9 thousand American servicemen from the FRG.
About 6.4 thousand of them will return to their homeland, and the rest will relocate to Italy and Belgium.
The next day, Trump noted that Germany was cooperating with Russia, and expressed bewilderment as to why the States should “defend” Berlin from Moscow. In addition, he pointed out that the country again did not pay NATO.