Thu 25 March, 2004 05:47
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon may cut half of the 71,000 troops based in Germany under a planned post-Cold War realignment of U.S. military forces abroad, The Washington Post has reported citing U.S. officials.
Under the draft plan, smaller bases would be set up in Romania and possibly Bulgaria and training facilities would be set up in Poland, the newspaper reported on Thursday.
Bases in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan that were established in 2001 to support the war in Afghanistan would be preserved as training sites and as quick staging areas for use in emergencies, the report said.
The Post said the Pentagon plan, which is nearing approval, also calls for new training and staging areas in Australia and expansion of military ties with Singapore and Thailand.
In addition, about 15,000 of the 100,000 U.S. troops posted in Asia would be withdrawn, mostly by streamlining administrative staffs of the U.S. military commands in South Korea and Japan, the newspaper said, citing the unnamed officials.
U.S. officials have said before that the United States would deploy fewer troops and have fewer bases in Europe.
But neither the proposed size of the reductions in Europe and Asia nor details about locations of the new sites have been previously disclosed, the Post reported.
The newspaper said that some of the troops now overseas would be brought home, while vital equipment would be dispersed more widely to permit more nimble dispatch of forces.
The report cited officials as saying that a major objective of the plan is to deepen military ties and joint training with a greater number of allies in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Africa and Southeast Asia.
President George W. Bush and his national security advisers were still a month or two away from approving the changes, the Post said.
Spain’s incoming prime minister has told the United States and Britain that he is committed to his vow to pull troops out of Iraq, despite their efforts to keep Spain in the occupying coalition.
Tony Blair and Spanish prime minister-elect Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero briefly discussed the possibility of a new United Nations resolution yesterday, in an attempt to resolve Zapatero’s demand that the UN take control of the occupation of Iraq.
Zapatero, in his first official meetings with foreign leaders, also spoke with US secretary of state Colin Powell, who offered an immediate dialogue on the UN’s role in Iraq, according to Miguel Angel Moratinos, who attended the meetings with Zapatero and is expected to become Spain’s new foreign minister.
Powell and Blair were among dozens of foreign dignitaries in Madrid for the state funeral for 190 people killed by terrorist bombs on March 11.
The US-led invasion of Iraq was strongly supported by the conservative Spanish government of prime minister Jose Maria Aznar but vehemently opposed by Zapatero’s Socialists and the overwhelming majority of Spaniards.
A British official said Blair told Zapatero he recognised the Spanish leader’s “domestic imperative” and the mandate he had received from the Spanish people.
Zapatero had campaigned with the promise to pull out Spanish troops by the end of June if the UN did not take the reins in Iraq by then.
Later, in Lisbon, Portugal, Blair acknowledged differences within the European Union over Iraq.
“First of all, every government has to take its own position,” he said.
“Of course there is a disagreement over the issue of Iraq with Mr. Zapatero. That is all known. But I think that everybody accepts that whatever their position is on the war in Iraq, the essential thing now is to help the Iraqi people.”
“I hope we can find common grounds there.”
Blair and Zapatero did not go into specifics about a new UN resolution, the British official said. A UN resolution was “touched upon as something that the Americans and British were looking toward”, the official said.
Zapatero also met French president Jacques Chirac, German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and prime minister Leszek Miller of Poland, whose troops control the southern Iraq zone where Spain’s 1,300 troops are deployed.
Schroeder, like Chirac, vehemently opposed last year’s US-led invasion.
The daily newspaper El Pais has reported that Zapatero intends to increase the Spanish contingent in Afghanistan by 125 soldiers to offset criticism of his decision to withdraw from Iraq.
Zapatero’s spokesman Julian Lacalle would not confirm or deny the report and said the prime minister-elect would not talk about specific policies before taking office.
A Spanish judge remanded two more suspects in jail in connection with the Madrid bombings, bringing to 11 the number of people charged so far.
Judge Juan del Olmo questioned Moroccans Rafa Zuher and stepsister Naima Oulad Akcha separately for more than six hours. They were arrested at the weekend.
Del Olmo charged them with collaborating with a terrorist group.
Spanish authorities have arrested a total of 15 people in connection with the March 11 railway bombings – 11 Moroccans, two Indians, one Algerian and a Spaniard. Thirteen remain in custody, of whom 11 have been charged and remanded in custody pending further investigation. One Moroccan and the Algerian have been released.
The attacks killed 190 people and injured at least 1,800.
Five have been charged with mass murder and belonging to a terrorist group and six have been charged with collaborating.
Naima Oulad Akcha was the first woman to be arrested in the case. She is sister to Khalid Oulad Akcha, who was in jail elsewhere in Spain in connection with a separate case.
Khalid Oulad Akcha and another person arrested over the weekend, Faisal Ullac, were expected to be questioned by the judge again today.