Pentagon launches review of US military presence in Europe

The US Department of Defence has officially begun a six-month review of the American military presence in Europe, a move that could pave the way for a reduction of US troop levels on the continent, US Under Secretary of Defence Elbridge Colby said in a post on X.

“Today, the Department of War kicked off the Europe Posture Review Secretary Hegseth announced at the last NATO Defense Ministerial Meeting in Brussels,” Colby wrote.

According to Colby, the review is aimed at accelerating Europe's assumption of greater responsibility for NATO's conventional defence.

“As the Secretary laid out then, this will be a real review, designed to ensure that NATO is moving fast and irreversibly toward Europe taking primary responsibility for its conventional defense,” he added.

At the NATO defence ministers' meeting in Brussels in June, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth outlined the vision of a "NATO 3.0" framework, calling for a significantly greater European role in the alliance's collective defence.

By Jeyhun Aghazada