{"id":17615,"date":"2021-09-24T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-09-24T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2021\/09\/24\/america-needs-a-permanent-military-presence-in-the-baltics-and-heres-why\/"},"modified":"2026-08-20T14:10:42","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T14:10:42","slug":"america-needs-a-permanent-military-presence-in-the-baltics-and-heres-why","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/commentary\/2021\/09\/24\/america-needs-a-permanent-military-presence-in-the-baltics-and-heres-why\/","title":{"rendered":"America needs a permanent military presence in the Baltics, and here\u2019s why"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

With the Defense Department weighing whether and how to change the U.S. military footprint overseas<\/a>, it\u2019s time to make the American military presence in the Baltic states durable. Maintaining merely periodic American boots on the ground, sometimes there and sometimes not \u2014 especially while a more permanent U.S. presence takes shape in nearby Poland<\/a> \u2014 sends the wrong message at the wrong time to NATO\u2019s most vulnerable allies and to Russian President Vladimir Putin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Particularly in the wake of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and the concerns generated over American credibility, only a consistent U.S. military presence in each of the Baltic states can convincingly reassure allies that Washington has their back while also signaling to Putin the rock-solid American commitment to NATO. The seemingly rushed, chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan has caused some American allies<\/a> in Europe to question Washington\u2019s commitment to NATO.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From this side of the Atlantic, linking the failure of the 20-year effort in Afghanistan to American credibility in Europe sounds absurd. After all, Afghanistan is a country with which the U.S. doesn\u2019t share significant cultural or historical ties, a treaty-based mutual defense commitment, or serious trade and investment relations. Meanwhile, America\u2019s cultural, historical, demographic, defense, and trade and investment connections to Europe are second to none. It\u2019s no exaggeration to say that the American way of life \u2014 not to mention the outcome of the great power competition now unfolding between the United States on one side and China and Russia on the other \u2014 depends on a close, secure relationship with Europe. Not so with Afghanistan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nonetheless, perception is reality, and the lack of an enduring American presence in the Baltic states looks even worse than it would in the absence of the Afghanistan debacle. This is particularly the case today in Lithuania, which is literally and figuratively on the front lines of Western efforts against both Russian and Chinese authoritarianism. Wedged among the Baltic Sea, a hostile neighbor in Belarus and the Russian territory of Kaliningrad \u2014 the most militarized piece of land in Europe \u2014 this relatively small ally confronts outsized threats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the last several years, Russia has significantly increased the number of offensive conventional<\/a> and nuclear<\/a> weapons in its Kaliningrad exclave, which shares a 185-mile border with Lithuania. Most recently, the just completed Zapad military exercise<\/a> involved up to 200,000 Russian and Belarusian soldiers, sailors and airmen, as well as hundreds of tanks and artillery pieces first defending against in an imaginary invasion and then simulating a counterattack<\/a> into Lithuanian (and Polish) territory. Worrisomely, the exercise may result in a permanent Russian presence in Belarus. Meanwhile, Belarus has recently weaponized migrants<\/a>, sending thousands of Iraqis and sub-Saharan Africans across the border into Lithuania over the last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\t