Pentagon sends sole aircraft carrier in the Pacific to the Middle East
By Mike Glenn - The Washington Times
Thursday, May 27, 2021
The sole U.S. Navy aircraft carrier in the Indo-Pacific region is being sent to the Middle East to help provide security for the ongoing withdrawal of American troops and equipment from Afghanistan.
The USS Ronald Reagan is expected to remain in the U.S. Central Command region for up to four months. President Biden has ordered all American troops out of Afghanistan by Sept. 11, and the pullout may be completed even more quickly than that. The Reagan will take the place of its sister aircraft carrier, the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower.
With the Reagan temporarily detached to Central Command, the waters of East Asia will be without a Navy aircraft carrier in the region for the first time in years. Mr. Biden and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin have characterized China as the “pacing threat” for the U.S., but have found it difficult to unwind from U.S. military commitments in the volatile Middle East.
Oklahoma Sen. James Inhofe, the ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, blasted the Biden administration for the decision to pull the carrier from the Pacific area and its home port of Yokosuka, Japan, at a time of stepped-up aggression by China.
https://m.washingtontimes.com/news/2021/may/27/pentagon-sends-sole-aircraft-carrier-pacific-middl/
