WASHINGTON, 05 November 2021, (TON): State Department adviser Derek Scholle said “the United States is currently determining the correct size of the American military presence in the Middle East.”

The US foreign policy official said “given the challenges that we face around the world, as well as our unlimited resources, our goal is to find the right size of this military presence, to ensure it in a way that provides for the presence in this theater [of military operations] sufficient capacity for protecting our interests and achieving our common goals, while excluding the fact that we have upset the balance in relation to our needs elsewhere.”

He spoke at a seminar hosted by the Washington Center for a New American Security.

Schollet recalled that the Pentagon, on behalf of the current United States President Joe Biden, is studying the feasibility of adjusting the scale of the American military presence in all regions.

The diplomat said that the State Department adviser also noted that the Middle East, Europe, the Indian and Pacific Oceans are key in terms of United States foreign policy. The American leadership still devotes most of its time to the Middle East.