How to Cut the US Presence in the Middle East
Asking the military to pursue the same goals with fewer resources will not work.
By Jerry Meyerle
February 3, 2021 07:00 AM ET
The new leadership in the Pentagon will be under a lot of pressure to reduce military commitments in the Middle East. Making cuts will not be enough, however. The Pentagon will need to relook its objectives and make strategic changes to force structure and basing.
The 2018 defense strategy, which called for major reductions in the region, offered hardly any guidance on how to do so. That is one reason tensions with Iran in 2019 and 2020 diverted aircraft carriers and fighter squadrons, knocking the strategy off balance. This did not have to happen, and it does not have to happen again.
The new administration’s defense strategy should lay out a deliberate approach to reducing U.S. commitments, starting with more modest goals for the military and a posture that is less forward-based and vulnerable. Asking the military to pursue the same goals with fewer resources will not work and may put U.S. forces at risk.
https://www.defenseone.com/ideas/2021/02/how-cut-us-presence-middle-east/171802/
