THE US Defence Secretary, Mr William Cohen, yesterday held "warm" discussions with the German Chancellor, Dr Helmut Kohl, on the US military presence in Europe. Later he met senior NATO commanders to discuss peacekeeping in Bosnia.
Mr Cohen met Dr Kohl in Bonn, then flew to Stuttgart for talks with Gen George Joulwan, commander of NATO forces in Europe, and Gen William Crouch, commander of NATO forces in Bosnia and of US forces in Europe. Mr Cohen said the German Chancellor expressed satisfaction with progress on NATO enlargement and urged a continued presence of US forces in Germany, which now stands at about 75,000 troops.
"We discussed several key things. He feels it is very important that the US maintains its presence in Germany and in Europe," Mr Cohen said. "He knows that from time to time there are members [of the US Congress] who call for a reduction of US forces, but he wanted me to know how important it was for the US to remain engaged."
Mr Cohen said Dr Kohl also stressed the importance of the upcoming summit in Helsinki between President Clinton and President Yeltsin because of the need to move forward on Washington-Moscow relations.
He said Dr Kohl "felt that we are making progress as far as NATO enlargement and pursuing the NATO-Russia charter, but talked at some length about the importance of moving forward with President Yeltsin."
Mr Cohen is on a four-day trip to Germany, Bosnia, Italy and NATO headquarters in Brussels, his first foreign venture since becoming secretary in late January.