The head of the Pentagon, Lloyd Austin, will review the deployment of American troops abroad and suspend the withdrawal of army units from Germany. This was announced by US President Joe Biden on February 4, in a keynote speech at the State Department. The speech was broadcast on the official page of the President of the United States on Twitter.
"Secretary of Defense Austin will lead a global review of the deployment of our troops to ensure that the U.S. military presence meets our foreign policy priorities and national security interests. This process will involve all elements of our national security system in close cooperation between Secretary Austin and Secretary [Anthony] Blinken," Biden said.
The suspension of the withdrawal of US troops from Germany was announced earlier on Thursday by Biden's national Security adviser, Jake Sullivan. A day earlier, the head of the European command of the US Armed Forces, Tod Walters, also announced Washington's decision to suspend the redeployment of troops from Germany. According to him, the head of the Pentagon, Lloyd Austin, is carefully re-evaluating Trump's decision to withdraw part of the troops.
On July 29, then-US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper announced the withdrawal of 11.9 thousand US troops from Germany. It was assumed that about 6,400 of them would return to their homeland, and the rest would be relocated to Italy and Belgium. The transfer of the military to Poland was also not excluded.
On October 20, Esper stated that the second armored regiment of the US Army could be permanently relocated from Germany to another European country located closer to Russia.
