SpaceWar.com - Your World At War
Europe can't assume US troop presence 'will last forever': Hegseth
Warsaw, Feb 14 (AFP) Feb 14, 2025
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Friday warned NATO allies in Europe against assuming that the American troop presence on the continent would "last forever", as he urged them to spend more on defence.

"Now is the time to invest because you can't make an assumption that America's presence will last forever," Hegseth told reporters alongside his Polish counterpart in Warsaw.

He was visiting Poland on his maiden trip to Europe as a top official in President Donald Trump's administration. Trump has repeatedly called on NATO members to increase their military expenditure.

Hegseth praised "model ally" Poland -- a country on NATO's eastern flank that neighbours both Russia and Ukraine -- for its defence spending.

Warsaw aims to spend 4.7 percent of its annual economic output on defence in 2025, well above the alliance's current minimum level of two percent.

Trump has previously said that should be more than doubled to five percent of gross domestic product (GDP).

Poland's Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said Europe's current arms production capacity was "not enough".

"Europe needs to wake up," he added. "Europe needs to invest in the arms industry."

Hegseth defended Trump's efforts to launch negotiations on the Ukraine war with Russia's leader.

And when asked if he trusted Russian President Vladimir Putin to live up to any potential agreement, Hegseth told reporters, "You don't have to trust somebody in order to negotiate with them".

Trump on Wednesday blindsided Ukraine and Washington's European allies by agreeing to launch talks on resolving the Ukraine conflict in his first publicly announced phone call with Putin since returning to power.

The same day, Hegseth said it was not realistic for Ukraine to regain all its land, or become a member of NATO.

On Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he was ready for direct talks with Russia once Kyiv had reached a common position with the United States and Europe on how to end the nearly three-year war.


ADVERTISEMENT




Space News from SpaceDaily.com
NASA discovers third interstellar comet
Red, white and blue on the Red Planet
Growing evidence for evolving Dark Energy could inspire a new model of the Universe

24/7 Energy News Coverage
Bezos-backed methane-tracking satellite lost in space
Blackout at refinery highlights Venezuela's oil industry crisis
Meta spending big on AI talent but will it pay off?

Military Space News, Nuclear Weapons, Missile Defense
China launches international association to boost global access to deep space research
Planet secures 240 million euro satellite services contract with German government
Planet expands defense partnerships with key AI surveillance contracts

24/7 News Coverage
Consortium plans global shift toward net negative carbon economy
Six satellites launched for ICEYE as constellation expansion gains momentum
WHO says all Covid-19 origin theories still open, after inconclusive study



All rights reserved. Copyright Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.