‘US wants bases in Europe, but for short-term deployments’

WASHINGTON: The United States supports having permanent US military bases on the eastern flank of Nato, but for regular short-term rotations of US troop units rather than long-term basing, the top Pentagon general said on Tuesday.

In the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Joint Chiefs Chairman General Mark Milley told a hearing in the House of Representatives that the key allies on the eastern edge of Nato are willing to host permanent US bases.

"My advice would be to create permanent bases, but don’t permanently station. So you get the effect of permanence by rotational forces cycling through permanent bases," Milley said. He said this would save on the costs of traditional US overseas bases, where troops are placed for two to three years, bringing their families -- which requires more support facilities, like schools, health and shopping venues.