WSJ: US plans major cut in special forces amid pivot away from West Asia
The United States military has made plans to cut the number of its special forces units and instead expand its conventional army as it shifts its focus from the Middle East to China, the Wall Street Journal reports.
The Pentagon plans to cut 10 percent of US Army Special Operations Command (SOCOM) and shift its focus from West Asia to what it deems as growing threat now posed by China.
In sum, the cuts to the Pentagon's umbrella, including Green Berets, amounts to about 3,700 troops.
The cut would need to be approved by Congress and Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin would have to sign the final approval.
The US Army is facing recruitment struggles. So far this year, the military missed a recruiting goal by 15,000 people, according to the Journal.
A majority of US veterans have said that Washington’s perpetual wars are not worth fighting, according to a poll conducted by Pew Research Center in 2019.
Rep. Mike Waltz, a retired National Guard colonel and Green Beret, said, “I am stunned and appalled by reports indicating the US Army will cut 3,000 troops from its special operations ranks as a means to manage their worst recruiting crisis since the Vietnam War.”
US special forces are often illustrated in American movies and TV series as a formidable fighting machine; however, many critics have dismissed them as childish propaganda for the military industrial complex, citing the Pentagon's influence on the film industry.
On Tuesday, the Journal said the Pentagon, White House, and Ukrainian officials have warned that without a fresh infusion of funds from the US Congress, Washington will lose the US-led Western proxy war against Russia.
The US and other donor states provide funds for the salaries of 150,000 civil servants in Ukraine, as well as more than half a million educators and school staff, in addition to various government costs, including healthcare and housing subsidies.
Since the start of the war last February, the primary focus of US legislators has been to supply Kiev with a variety of guns and weapons and millions of rounds of ammunition.
The UK, possibly Washington and Kiev’s closest ally, has also run out of weapons for Ukraine.
A senior military chief told No. 10 Tuesday that Kiev urgently needed "air defense assets and artillery ammunition" which the UK has now "run dry on".
"We've given away all we can afford," the Daily Telegraph quoted the British military official as saying.
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