US to Reduce NATO Military Commitments

(MENAFN) The Trump administration is preparing to formally notify European NATO allies that Washington intends to significantly pare back the military assets it has pledged to the alliance in the event of a major crisis — including a direct attack on a member state, sources say.

While the precise breakdown of forces assigned under the NATO Force Model remains classified, the Pentagon has resolved to "significantly scale down" its commitment, Reuters reported on Tuesday.

The announcement is expected to be delivered at a defense policy chiefs' meeting in Brussels on May 22, according to three anonymous sources with direct knowledge of the matter. Washington is set to be represented at the gathering by Alex Velez-Green, a senior aide to Undersecretary of War Elbridge Colby.

Reshaping the NATO Force Model has emerged as a central objective for Colby's team as they gear up for the next NATO leaders' summit, scheduled for July in Türkiye. The development is noteworthy given Colby's earlier stance: while pressing European allies to shoulder greater responsibility for conventional forces, he previously stated the US would "strenuously oppose" their pursuit of independent nuclear capabilities to substitute for the American nuclear umbrella.

The disclosure fits within a pattern of accelerating US military retrenchment across Europe, where more than 80,000 American troops were stationed in 2025 under a decades-old framework of collective defense and deterrence forged in the aftermath of World War II.

Adding another layer of pressure, the White House has reportedly compiled a NATO "naughty and nice" list — designed to reward allies that backed the US-Israeli war against Iran and penalize those that did not, with consequences potentially including troop redeployments, scaled-back joint exercises, or curtailed military cooperation.

The drumbeat of cuts has grown louder in recent weeks. Earlier this month, the Pentagon scrapped a planned rotation of 4,000 troops into Poland, just days after confirming the withdrawal of 5,000 soldiers from Germany. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has also reportedly called off the deployment to Germany of a battalion specialized in long-range missile systems.

European NATO members remain acutely reliant on Washington for critical capabilities — among them intelligence satellites, long-range strike weapons, heavy airlift and undersea warfare assets — even as they have sharply expanded their defense budgets in recent years, citing the threat posed by Russia.

Moscow, for its part, has forcefully rejected Europe's military buildup, contending that Western governments are exploiting "ostentatious Russophobia" to justify transforming the EU into a military bloc and to deflect public attention from mounting domestic challenges.

MENAFN20052026000045017169ID1111144222