BERLIN – U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin told Germany's Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer in his first conversation with her since taking up his new post that Germany is “highly valued” as a station for American soldiers, the Defense Ministry said Thursday.
Last year, then President Donald Trump ordered the reduction of the U.S. military contingent stationed in Germany by more than 25% and the Pentagon has been studying how that could be done.
German officials have hoped that order will be rescinded by the new administration, and the German Defense Ministry said that in his call with Kramp-Karrenbauer on Wednesday, Austin “emphasized that Germany is highly valued as a station and that American soldiers feel very