Asia, cyber attacks headline list of growing threats to US, military says

Washington, Feb.9 (ANI): The US military in its first revision of the National Military Strategy since 2004, has singled out Asia as a region of rising power and concern, and pointed to the increased threat of cyber attacks.

The National Military Strategy, which was released Tuesday, is the Pentagon's piece of the National Security Strategy, the White House's periodic appraisal of the pressing threats America faces and how it plans to deal with them. The previous National Security Strategy was released in 2010, the Christian Science Monitor reports.

It also points to the need to expand and deepen military relationships with both China and India.

The document takes note of the wear and tear on the US military as a result of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. "We underestimate at our peril," the Pentagon says, "the stresses of sustained combat operations on our equipment and people."

Reflecting the US military's broadening areas of responsibility, the Pentagon document also makes note of destabilizing global trends in population growth, water scarcity, and climate change.

The Pentagon's growing focus on Asia "does not necessarily mean" more American troops will be dispatched to the region, says a senior US military official, who briefed reporters on the condition that he not be identified by name.

The official did not rule out the possibility of a "redistribution" of forces, noting that in Europe, there is less need for US ground forces as NATO develops ballistic missile defenses.

The American military should also seek to "invest new attention and resources in Southeast and South Asia," according to the report, which lobbies for more exercises with the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam, among other countries. (ANI)