Washington DC. 13 April 2019. Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick M. Shanahan met with German Minister of Defense Ursula von der Leyen today at the Pentagon to reaffirm the defense relationship between the United States and Germany.
The leaders discussed a broad range of defense issues, including equitable burden-sharing for European security. The secretary expressed appreciation for Germany’s role as host to the largest U.S. force presence in Europe, which is critical to support worldwide operations.
Secretary Shanahan also thanked Minister von der Leyen for Germany’s contributions to international security in Afghanistan, Lithuania, and Mali, and its commitment the global defeat-ISIS coalition. He noted U.S. appreciation for the German government’s decision last month to extend its deployment mandate to the Resolute Support mission through March 2020.
