The president-elect reiterated recently that the western military alliance NATO is outdated, and that it should adapt to modern times, prompting both astonishment and concern among the alliance members. 

But recently a senior general from NATO seems to support Trump’s statements.

The media remains focused on the seemingly growing gap between the elected President of the USA and future secretary of defense James Mattis regarding NATO, after Donald Trump said again on Sunday in a joint interview given to The London Times and Bild, that the western military alliance is “outdated”. 

His statement is in stark contrast to the position of retired Marine Gen. Mattis, who said last week during his confirmation hearing in the US Senate: “If we did not need NATO today, there would have been no need to create it. NATO is vital to our interests. “

In his remarks addressed to The London Times and the German magazine Bild, Trump said about NATO “is outdated, primarily because it was designed many, many years ago.” 

In addition, the president-elect reiterated that most of the 28 members of the alliance do not fulfill their responsibilities under the treaty.

US covers approximately 70% of NATO funds, while other nations “do not pay their part correctly, and we are supposed to protect the member states. There are five countries that pay what should be paid – five. It is not much, ” said Trump.

And it seems that some NATO officials agree with Trump’s position, as reported by AP. A top NATO general admitted that some parts of the military alliance should be updated.

Reacting to Trump’s criticism against the Western military alliance, General Denis Mercier, head of NATO’s Allied Command Transformation (ACT), said on Tuesday: “We see that there is a need for adaptation.”

Mercier admitted that NATO has “some structures that are outdated”.

The general said that the military alliance was probably focused too much on the deployment of troops abroad, especially in Afghanistan.

Mercier said the alliance wants to change its approach in the fight against terrorism, partly by supporting countries threatened to develop long-term plans to fight extremists.

Germany was one of the several European nations that was amazed by Trump’s remarks about the NATO alliance.

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