Does git eliminate files when deleted from a remote machine?

git pull

is actually a shortcut to two commands:

This fetches files from remote. You have a chance to interrupt it.

git fetch

      

        
        
        
      

    

This merges the changes into your local branch. Done in milliseconds

git merge

      

        
        
        
      

    

So, about the ability to trim files:

• As Thomas Kilian says, a git process starts a separate thread in it. So it's not easy to interrupt.
• If you interrupt git pull
  
  (close your console, or your internet connection drops, or whatever), you actually interrupt git fetch
  
  . Since the fetch is incomplete, no truncated files will be merged into your branch. Repeat git fetch
  
  or git pull
  
  , let it finish and you have valid copies of your files.
• If by accident git was able to merge an invalid state (say, the power went out during the merge), you always have a previous commit. Do it git reset --hard <last-valid-commit-sha1>
  
  .