Former NATO Chief Warns of Alliance 'Disintegration' and Calls for European Defense Bloc

May 9, 2026

Anders Fogh Rasmussen, former NATO Secretary General, warns of NATO's potential disintegration. The Pentagon plans to withdraw 5,000 U.S. troops from Germany in May 2026. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz criticized U.S. Iran strategy in late April 2026. Germany aims to build Europe's strongest conventional military by mid-2030s with 460,000 troops. NATO agreed at 2025 summit to 5% of GDP defense spending target by 2035.

US troop withdrawal from Germany

▪The U.S. troop withdrawal from Germany represents approximately 14% of the roughly 36,000 troops stationed in Germany
▪The Pentagon announced plans to withdraw 5,000 U.S. service members from Germany in May 2026
▪Plans formulated during the Biden administration to deploy U.S.-made Tomahawk missiles to Germany might be shelved as of May 2026
▪Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Germany
▪German Chancellor Friedrich Merz stated publicly in late April 2026 that the U.S. appeared to lack a clear exit strategy in Iran and that Tehran had humiliated Washington in peace talks

NATO alliance trust erosion

▪U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer declared that the U.S.-Israel war in Iran is not the U.K.'s war
▪Ivo Daalder served as U.S. ambassador to NATO under President Barack Obama
▪President Trump left NATO in the dark before launching strikes on Iran
▪Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney became the first non-European leader to be invited to a meeting of the European Political Community in May 2026
▪NATO was founded by the U.S., Canada and their European allies in 1949 to provide a bulwark against Soviet aggression
▪President Trump called for NATO to assist in reopening the Strait of Hormuz

European military capability gaps

▪Acquiring U.S. military capabilities will take NATO allies between five and 10 years to develop

European defense independence push

▪NATO members agreed at the 2025 summit to a new defense spending target of 5% of GDP by 2035
▪France is sending the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle to the Red Sea
▪Poland meets or exceeds NATO's 2% of GDP defense spending benchmark as of 2026

Germany's expanded NATO leadership

▪German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius unveiled a sweeping new defense plan in April 2026
▪Germany's planned military force includes more than 200,000 active-duty personnel
▪Germany's new defense plan is the first comprehensive military doctrine issued by Germany since the Cold War
▪Germany aims to build Europe's strongest conventional military by the mid-2030s with a force of roughly 460,000 troops