Some 80,000 US troops are at the moment stationed in Europe in a bid to include Russia amid the Ukraine battle, down from 100,000 deployed final yr, in line with a letter despatched to Congress by President Joe Biden on Thursday.
In a doc addressed to the Speaker of the Home of Representatives and the Senate’s President professional tempore, Biden offered an outline of the present place of the US navy throughout the globe.
“Roughly 80,000 United States Armed Forces personnel are assigned or deployed to North Atlantic Treaty Group international locations in Europe, together with these deployed to reassure our allies and to discourage additional Russian aggression,” the letter reads.
By comparability, in June 2022, a number of months into the Ukraine battle, the Pentagon mentioned that it had deployed an extra 20,000 troops to Europe, bringing the full to greater than 100,000.
Across the similar time, NATO additionally introduced plans to extend its navy presence on the continent, boosting the variety of troops on excessive alert to over 300,000 in what Secretary Basic Jens Stoltenberg described as “the largest overhaul of our collective protection and deterrence for the reason that Chilly Struggle.”
With regards to different areas, Biden mentioned that the US has greater than 2,000 troops stationed in Saudi Arabia, and greater than 3,100 in Jordan, the place they help counterterrorism efforts towards the Islamic State (previously ISIS). Some 600 American troops are additionally a part of the NATO power in Kosovo, the place tensions between native Serbs and ethnic Albanians have been on the rise not too long ago.
In current weeks, the US has additionally enhanced its navy footprint within the Center East amid the continued Israel-Hamas battle, sending an extra 1,200 troopers to the area, in addition to some superior navy {hardware}.
Russia has repeatedly mentioned it has no plans to assault NATO whereas describing the US-led navy bloc as a “instrument of confrontation” established to include Russia. Moscow has additionally repeatedly voiced issues in regards to the alliance’s growth to the nation’s borders, with Russian President Vladimir Putin calling it one of many major causes for the Ukraine battle.
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