Pentagon removing troops from Eastern Europe, focusing on other areas

Oct. 29 (UPI) -- The U.S. military is planning to remove 700 troops assigned to the 101st Airborne Division from Eastern Europe as the Pentagon focuses on other regions.

The airborne division is part of NATO's eastern flank and is deployed in Germany, Poland and Romania.

Defense Sec. Pete Hegseth is reducing the number of troops in those nations while changing focus to the Indo-Pacific, Latin America and domestic fronts, The New York Times reported.

The drawdown would leave the U.S. military with about 83,000 troops in Europe, including 1,000 in Romania.

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"This is not an American withdrawal from Europe or a signal of a lessened commitment to NATO," the U.S. Army Command in Europe said in a prepared statement.

"Our NATO allies are meeting President [Donald] Trump's call to take primary responsibility for the conventional defense of Europe."

The troop drawdown also won't affect European security as Russia continues its nearly four-year war against Ukraine and has recently violated the airspace of several NATO members several times.

The Pentagon called the chance an "adjustment in U.S. force posture," which the Romanian Defense Ministry acknowledged on Wednesday.

"This is no disaster. It is a decision by our allies," Romanian Defense Minister Ionut Mosteneanu told media in Bucharest.

He said about 1,000 U.S. troops will remain deployed in three NATO bases in Oradea, Brasov and Bucharest in Romania.

NATO officials likewise said the "U.S. force posture in Europe remains larger than it has been for many years," Radio Free Europe reported.

House and Senate Republicans in Congress oppose the troop drawdown, though.

The drawdown comes as the Trump administration seeks to force Russian President Vladimir Putin to negotiate a cease-fire and end the war in Ukraine.

House and Senate armed services committee chairmen Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Ala., and Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., opposed the move in a joint statement on Wednesday, ABC News reported.

They accused the Defense Department of undertaking the change without Congress reviewing the drawdown.

"Unfortunately, this appears to be exactly what is being attempted," Rogers and Wicker said.

The Pentagon confirmed the U.S. Army's 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, which is part of the 101st Airborne Division, will return to its home base in Fort Campbell in southern Kentucky and won't be replaced by other troops in Eastern Europe.