{"id":652,"date":"2026-03-30T14:02:43","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T14:02:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/652\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T14:02:43","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T14:02:43","slug":"afd-demands-us-troops-leave-germany","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/652\/","title":{"rendered":"AfD demands US troops leave Germany"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Alternative for Germany (AfD) party has called for the withdrawal of all US soldiers from the country.<\/p>\n

Tino Chrupalla, the far-Right party\u2019s co-leader, told a meeting on Saturday that it was time to remove allied troops and nuclear weapons from Germany in order to pursue an \u201cindependent\u201d foreign policy.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s start implementing this with the withdrawal of US troops from Germany,\u201d he told supporters in Saxony.<\/p>\n

Nearly 40,000 American troops are stationed in the country, which hosts more than a dozen major US military installations, including its European Command headquarters.<\/p>\n

The Telegraph reported on Friday<\/a> that Donald Trump was considering pulling US troops out of Germany \u2013 something he has been thinking about since returning to office last year.<\/p>\n

The US president, who has expressed repeated frustration with Nato allies, has threatened to punish members that do not meet his 5 per cent defence spending demands.<\/p>\n

\"US<\/p>\n

US troops, pictured in Grafenwoehr, Germany, during an event last year – Sean Gallup\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Mr Chrupalla\u2019s comments put him at odds with the Trump administration, particularly over whether America should be able to use German bases for its military activities in the future.<\/p>\n

He has previously claimed that Nato serves US interests too much. On Saturday, he also stressed that Germany should not be drawn into foreign wars.<\/p>\n

Praising Spain\u2019s decision to block its bases from being used by the US<\/a> to attack Iran, Mr Chrupalla said: \u201cThat\u2019s exactly the right thing to do. Spain is not interfering in this war.\u201d<\/p>\n

Germany\u2019s Ramstein Air Base is being used by US forces as a hub to co-ordinate drone and missile strikes against Iran, attracting criticism from opposition politicians who fear the country could be targeted in retaliation.<\/p>\n

Friedrich Merz, the German chancellor, has also been criticised for not having a consistent policy<\/a> on the Israeli-US war against Iran.<\/p>\n

Last week, he accused Mr Trump of carrying out a \u201cmassive escalation\u201d in the conflict, rather than attempting to end the fighting. The rhetoric between Washington and Berlin has become increasingly hostile in recent days.<\/p>\n

Surge in support for AfD<\/p>\n

A new poll released on Sunday showed the AfD and Mr Merz\u2019s Christian Democrats (CDU) were tied for first place among German voters.<\/p>\n

While it is not the first time the party has achieved such a poll rating, it does suggest the far-Right\u2019s popularity is proving durable. Such support will make pledges from established German parties never to govern in coalition with the AfD increasingly difficult to honour.<\/p>\n

While the CDU and AfD are tied at 26 per cent each, the Social Democrats \u2013 currently governing as a junior partner \u2013 are still languishing at a historic low of 14 per cent.<\/p>\n

The centre-Left Greens were at 12 per cent in the poll, while the liberal Free Democrats were at 3 per cent \u2013 less than the electoral threshold required to get any seats at all.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

If an election were held today, based on the latest poll numbers, a potentially unwieldy coalition of three of Germany\u2019s main parties would be required to keep the AfD out of power at a federal level.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, a recent state poll in Saxony-Anhalt indicated that the far-Right was within striking distance of an absolute majority at the state level.<\/p>\n

The AfD previously sought to court the Trump administration, with Mr Chrupalla attending Mr Trump\u2019s inauguration last year.<\/p>\n

However, the US president\u2019s foreign policy, including his military action against Venezuela and Iran, has increasingly distanced the non-interventionist AfD from Washington.<\/p>\n

Try full access to The Telegraph free today. Unlock their award-winning website and essential news app, plus useful tools and expert guides for your money, health and holidays.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Alternative for Germany (AfD) party has called for the withdrawal of all US soldiers from the country.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":653,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[452,589,479,393,5,590,455],"class_list":{"0":"post-652","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-germany","8":"tag-afd","9":"tag-american-troops","10":"tag-donald-trump","11":"tag-friedrich-merz","12":"tag-germany","13":"tag-mr-trump","14":"tag-tino-chrupalla"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/652","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=652"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/652\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}