Commanders Push Back Against Efforts to Reduce US Troops in Africa, Latin America by Richard Sisk – Military.com
Combatant commanders for Africa and Latin America made the case Thursday for more U.S. military, diplomatic and economic involvement in their regions, even as the Defense Department mulls troop drawdowns.
Army Gen. Stephen Townsend, head of U.S. Africa Command, and Adm. Craig Faller, head of U.S. Southern Command, received bipartisan support for their positions at a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Oklahoma, the committee's chairman and a close ally of President Donald Trump, said that AFRICOM and SOUTHCOM "have never been adequately resourced."
A drawdown in either region to free up more troops to counter Russia and China makes no sense when both Russia and China are aggressively expanding their influence in Africa and Central and South America, Inhofe said…