European NATO allies have mostly replaced the military assets that the United States recently cut from its contingency plans for a potential war in Europe, Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe John Stringer said in an interview.
Stringer's remarks come ahead of the NATO summit scheduled next week in Ankara, where alliance members are expected to address concerns following the US announcements signaling a strategic pivot away from Europe.
“European allies have definitely stepped up in terms of backfilling the adjustment in the US forces in Europe,” Stringer said, describing this as a sign of “a stronger Europe in a stronger NATO.”
The US had announced significant reductions in the forces it would deploy to Europe in the event of war or crisis. This prompted NATO's military command to request European countries to disclose the forces they had not yet committed to the alliance.
Stringer, a former Royal Air Force fighter pilot, noted that in areas where Europe could not provide equivalent forces, efforts would focus on matching the overall effect with different assets. He emphasized that burden-sharing and burden-shifting are now conducted in a “sensible, proportionate way, absolutely driven by military logic,” highlighting European allies' preparedness for the shift in US priorities and commitments.
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