Special to WorldTribune.com

WASHINGTON — The U.S. military has been examining the prospect of establishing a rapid-response force in Bahrain.

Military sources said the Joint Chiefs of Staff was drafting recommendations for a combat force that could be rapidly deployed throughout the Middle East and South Asia.

The sources said the force would be formed from the Marine Corps.

“Bahrain contains the air and naval facilities for such a force,” a source said.

The U.S. daily USA Today reported that a rapid response force in Bahrain could compensate for the planned American military withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2014. The newspaper said the force would be designed to respond to any emergency throughout Asia and Africa.

“The U.S. presence in the Gulf is shifting from land to sea,” Lexington Institute analyst Loren Thompson told the newspaper. “That means greater reliance on the Marines for carrying out any missions on shore.”

The U.S. military has already established rapid-response forces for the Mediterranean region and Horn of Africa. The forces, also drawn from the
Marines, have been based in Djibouti and Spain.

The sources said any rapid response force in Bahrain would be based in
the U.S. Navy’s fleet fleet outside Manama. The military has not confirmed
plans for the force.

  As Afghan pullout looms, Joint Chiefs of Staff, Manama, U.S. eyes Bahrain for rapid-response force, U.S. Marine Corps