Washington, Feb 25 (IANS): US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel Monday outlined his priorities for 2015 defence budget cut, including plans to reduce the size of the US army to its pre-World War II levels.
The Pentagon chief unveiled his budget-cut proposals as the Obama administration is preparing to pull out most US troops from Afghanistan following an almost 13-year war, Xinhua reported.
"As we end our combat mission in Afghanistan, this will be the first budget to fully reflect the transition DOD (the Department of Defence) is making after 13 years of war, the longest conflict in our nation's history," said Hagel at a Pentagon press conference.
Among the proposals, Hagel announced his plans to further reduce the size of US Army to between 440,000 to 450,000 active-duty soldiers -- the US Army's smallest force since World War II.