The New York Times quoted an anonymous congressional representative as saying that as the Pentagon deploys more and more weapons in the Middle East, the Pentagon will face real combat problems if a conflict breaks out in Asia.
According to the newspaper, congressional representatives pointed out that the Pentagon’s deployment of warships and aircraft in the Middle East after the start of the conflict in the Gaza Strip in October 2023 and the attack on Red Sea ships by the ruling Shiite Ansar Allah Movement (Houthi) in northern Yemen in support of Palestine has damaged the US combat readiness in the Pacific region. The newspaper’s sources added that US military support for Ukraine and decades of US military operations in the Middle East and Afghanistan have “drained” important resources from Asia.
“A senior defense official told congressional aides that the Pentagon is now ‘at risk of real operational problems’ if any conflict breaks out in Asia,” the source said.
Meanwhile, Matthew Comer, spokesman for Admiral Samuel Paparo, commander of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, downplayed anxiety about the issue, saying the U.S. military has a “lethal force” in the Indo-Pacific region to respond to any contingency.
Earlier, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said in an interview with The Japan Times that the United States has the initiative to decide on regional strategy in Asia because it is “the only remaining superpower that can be active not only in Europe and the Atlantic, but also in the Indo-Pacific.”
In March, The Wall Street Journal quoted experts from a U.S. think tank as saying that in addition to the Philippines, the United States may deploy the Typhon medium-range missile system in other countries in the Indo-Pacific region in the future, which will lead to an escalation of the regional situation.
