WASHINGTON, June 8 (TASS) - The number of US personnel within the NATO contingent in Europe amounts to 80,000 troops, US President Joe Biden said in a letter to the US Congress.

"Approximately 80,000 United States Armed Forces personnel are assigned or deployed to North Atlantic Treaty Organization countries in Europe, including those deployed to reassure our allies and to deter further Russian aggression," the US leader asserted. Last year, in a similar notice, the US president also said that 80,000 US troops were deployed in NATO countries. According to the document, 576 Americans are part of the NATO-led Kosovo Force (KFOR).

Biden specified that about 2,320 US troops are stationed in Saudi Arabia, 3,813 - in Jordan, and 75 in Lebanon. According to the document, approximately 700 US troops are currently deployed to Niger. However, the Pentagon is in the process of their withdrawal which "will be completed over the next several months," the US leader said.

The document does not specify the number of US troops in Iraq or Syria. It indicates that "a small presence of United States Armed Forces remains in strategically significant locations" in that country. Biden also said that 30 prisoners remain at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Photo from AP