Top general recommends US maintain current troop levels in Europe

Military Gen. Christopher Cavoli, the commander of U.S. European Command and the NATO commander, instructed Home lawmakers Tuesday he really helpful the army preserve its present pressure ranges in Europe.

Cavoli’s feedback come amid considerations from Congress that the Pentagon is contemplating lowering the variety of U.S. troops on the continent.

Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., stated final week that “mid-level” Pentagon leaders had been engaged on what he described as a misguided plan to “cut back drastically our army footprint in Europe.” The Protection Division, nevertheless, has not made public any proposal to chop pressure ranges there.

At a Home Armed Companies Committee listening to Tuesday, panel chairman Rep. Michael Rogers, R-Mich., requested Cavoli for his advice.

The variety of U.S. troops in Europe elevated by about 20,000 underneath former President Joe Biden in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. There have been roughly 100,000 troops there since then.

“It’s my recommendation to take care of that pressure posture as it’s now,” Cavoli stated. “Since we initially surged forces ahead in 2022, we now have periodically reviewed for construction each the army and coverage stage, and I’ve constantly really helpful all through that interval to take care of the forces we surged ahead, and I might proceed to take action now if requested.”

The identical day Cavoli advised holding forces in Europe, his command introduced it was shuffling U.S. forces inside Poland, away from a Ukraine assist hub.

Navy gear and personnel had been transferring out of Jasionka, Poland, to different websites within the nation, stated U.S. Military Europe and Africa, which famous that the choice got here after months of planning with NATO allies.

Navy support will proceed to movement to Ukraine through Jasionka underneath the supervision of Polish and NATO leaders, with a smaller U.S. army pressure on the website, the Military stated.

“After three years at Jasionka this is a chance to right-size our footprint and save American taxpayers tens of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} per yr,” Gen. Christopher Donahue, commanding common of U.S. Military Europe and Africa, stated in an announcement.

The Related Press contributed to this story.