U.S. forces may stay longer than planned in Europe if Defense Secretary Robert Gates agrees to a request from his top commander there, the Pentagon said Tuesday. Two of the four U.S. combat brigades remaining in Europe were supposed to move to U.S. bases over the next year, but General Bantz Craddock, the U.S. commander in Europe, has recommended postponing the move by a year. Gates “is inclined to embrace the concept of leaving two of them there for a time longer than originally anticipated,” said Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman. Craddock had recommended the slowdown in withdrawing the troops, saying more forces were needed for “security theater engagement,” Whitman said. The plan is a “short-term solution” to a troop shortage in Europe, Whitman said, but the spokesman's remarks indicate the U.S. military is reconsidering its two-year-old plan to reduce its presence in Europe, perhaps in reaction to a more aggressive Russia. About 43,000 U.S. troops are currently stationed in Europe, down from about 60,000 two years ago when former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld began a major overhaul of the U.S. military commitment there.
