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NATO chief Mark Rutte said Wednesday that the United States was not stepping back from Europe by announcing cuts to the forces it makes available to the alliance.
“In some cases this has been cast as a problem -- as the US pulling away from its allies. But that is not the reality,” Rutte said on the eve of a meeting of NATO defense ministers.
Washington has told allies it is reducing the assets it puts at disposal of NATO commanders as it expects European countries to take “primary responsibility” for their own conventional defense.
