A unilateral withdrawal of American forces from Europe would be “dangerously short-sighted” at a time when Russia is actively waging a hybrid campaign of sabotage, assassinations and drone incursions across the continent, former US Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Fried warned. In an exclusive interview with Kyiv Post, Fried said it is legitimate for Washington to press European allies to increase defense spending and contribute more to NATO, but argued that this should not come at the expense of weakening US deterrence.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. “It’s a very good thing to push the Europeans to build up their militaries and contribute more to NATO’s Article 5 defense of Europe,” Fried said. “And I don’t mind the Trump administration pushing.” Fried’s warning comes as the Pentagon reviews the US military posture in Europe. Reports indicate that Washington may reduce the pool of American capabilities available under the NATO Force Model during major crises, as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth assesses allied contributions. ‘The Europeans are doing more’ Fried argued that Washington has already won much of the burden-sharing debate, with several European states ramping up defense spending and military production in response to the Russian threat. “To push the Europeans to do more is a good thing, but frankly the Europeans are doing more,” Fried said. “The Poles, Finns, Swedes, Baltic states and Romania have been doing it for a while. The Germans have now joined them. They are building up their military because of the Russian threat.”