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The USA will be stationing a further 500 soldiers in Germany from next autumn.

That said the new US Defense Minister Lloyd Austin on Tuesday at a joint press conference with Federal Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer (CDU) in Berlin.

Austin praised the efforts of NATO partner Germany to increase defense spending.

Around 34,500 US soldiers are currently stationed in the Federal Republic - and the topic has caused a stir in recent months.

Under President Donald Trump, the Pentagon announced in July that a third of the soldiers would be withdrawn from Germany.

While Trump's then Defense Minister Mark Esper cited strategic considerations, Trump openly spoke of a kind of punitive action: Germany was not spending enough on its defense, was “in default” with NATO and was being protected by the United States.

Biden relies on strengthening the old alliances

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The plans caused great concern in Germany and also met with criticism in the USA.

Ultimately, however, the troop withdrawal did not materialize: First, the US Congress thwarted Trump's plans.

The new President Joe Biden is now relying on a new strengthening of the traditional alliances after the four years of “America first” advocate Donald Trump.

After moving into the White House in January, Biden put the withdrawal plans entirely on hold and ordered Austin to conduct a thorough review of the global US troop presence.

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The 67-year-old defense minister and retired four-star general will also visit the regional European headquarters US European Command (Eucom) during his visit to Germany, which Trump wanted to relocate from Stuttgart to Mons, Belgium.

Before Austin's trip, the Pentagon was already flattering Germany as “one of our closest NATO allies”.

Ukraine conflict brings the partners closer together

The first African American defense minister in US history is to promote the consolidation of the transatlantic alliance on behalf of Biden.

The actions of Russia on the border with Ukraine, which are ringing the alarm bells in the West, should bring Europeans and North Americans closer together.

Close cooperation is also required when it comes to Afghanistan.

Trump had promised the radical Islamic Taliban that all foreign troops would withdraw by the end of April.

However, Biden has put this agreement to the test. 

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Peace talks between the government in Kabul and the Taliban have so far not been successful, and many fear new chaos if Western troops withdraw.

Berlin and the other European US allies are now impatiently awaiting what the world's strongest military power will do - especially since its own whereabouts in Afghanistan also depend on it.

It probably helps that Austin is very familiar with the problems in Afghanistan.

In his more than 40-year military career, the Army General was also on duty in Afghanistan.

In 2013 he then became the commander of the important US military command Centcom, which is responsible, among other things, for the Middle East and Afghanistan.