Germany’s Far-Right Calls for US Troops To Leave Country
The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party has called for the U.S. to pull all of its troops from the European country after reports suggested U.S. President Donald Trump is considering withdrawing American soldiers from the country.
AfD co-leader, Tino Chrupalla, told a party gathering in east Germany on Saturday that the country should chase an "independent" foreign policy, starting with the removal of American soldiers.
Just under 40,000 U.S. troops are stationed in Germany, close to half the total number in Europe.
The country hosts the major Ramstein air base, home to NATO's air and space forces, vital for coordinating activities like air defense operations. German bases are also a springboard for U.S. missions in the Middle East.
AfD has long called for foreign soldiers to leave Germany, and the party's manifesto demands the withdrawal of all nuclear weapons from German soil.
The U.S. keeps roughly 100 B-61 nuclear gravity bombs in bases across Europe, including in western Germany. These are tactical nuclear weapons, less destructive than the long-range missiles launched from U.S. silos, submarines and bombers that can level cities.
Trump and his administration have long weighed up whether to dramatically scale back the U.S. military footprint in Europe, originally part of Washington's pivot to the Indo-Pacific and the threat of China.
Europe has at once tried to quickly boost their military spending while keeping the U.S. invested in protecting the continent, including with troops based in countries like Germany.
Trump is still debating whether to transfer troops out of Germany, British newspaper The Telegraph reported Friday, citing sources close to the president.
But despite conflicting messages from the administration, the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act—signed into law back in December—blocked the U.S. government taking U.S. troop numbers in Europe below 76,000 for more than 45 days.
Meanwhile, the Iran war, now in its fifth week, has drawn more than 50,000 U.S. soldiers to the Middle East, with thousands of Marines and elite paratroopers expected to arrive in the region with extra ships, aircraft and weapons in the coming weeks.
Trump's next steps aren't clear, but the White House has kept ground operations on Iranian territory firmly on the table as Iran maintains its chokehold on the vital Strait of Hormuz trade route and wreaked havoc with global fuel prices.
Trump has publicly denounced U.S. allies, including NATO's big European players, for refusing to become more deeply embroiled in the Iran war and U.S. efforts to fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
Chrupalla said Berlin should not allow itself to be drawn into international conflicts, pointing to the Spanish government's actions in blocking U.S. military planes using two jointly-operated bases in southern Spain.
Madrid's left-wing government has also blocked all aircraft linked to the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran from using its airspace, including planes based in third countries, Spain's El País newspaper reported on Monday.
