The Pentagon plans to downgrade the Army’s top command overseeing Europe and Africa by mid-summer, a move that raises concerns about the future of America’s commitment to Europe and about what will happen to one of the Army’s most prominent generals.
The command is led by four-star Gen. Christopher Donahue, best known publicly as the last American service member photographed leaving Afghanistan. The proposed shift, confirmed by five people familiar with the deliberations, would replace him with a three-star or lieutenant general.
The Trump administration is overhauling the U.S. military footprint in Europe — pulling thousands of troops from Germany, pausing a deployment of an armored brigade and pressing allies to take on more of the burden of defending the continent. The new moves come after German Chancellor Friedrich Merz publicly questioned President Donald Trump’s strategy on Iran, and Trump harangued allies for not doing more to help in the conflict.