The US is expected to announce on Monday that it is pulling 100,000 troops out of Europe and Asia in the largest restructuring of its global military presence since the second world war.

According to people briefed on the plan, two-thirds of the reductions will come in Europe, where 70,000 uniformed personnel, most of them from Germany, will be sent back to US bases.

Although Germany will remain home to the largest contingent of American forces on the continent, both army divisions now based there - the 1st Armoured and the 1st Infantry - could be sent home to US bases.

Germany will continue to be home to sophisticated training and command facilities and to a mobile infantry force that will be equipped with the army's new light-armoured Stryker vehicles and is is expected to form the core of a restructured European presence.

The announcement is scheduled to be outlined in a speech by George W. Bush, US president. The details were still being debated inside the administration yesterday.

People briefed on the plan warned that timing on the announcement could shift, given that some details were still being ironed out.

The Bush administration has been re-evaluating the US military's global-force posture almost since its first days in office, and senior Pentagon officials have gone to great pains to emphasise that the move is not intended as a punishment for Germany's lack of support in the Iraq war.

Diplomats said Asian and European governments that would see troops withdrawn had been extensively consulted for months by joint Pentagon-State department teams.

This meant the announcement was likely to be met with less consternation than originally expected. "That's pretty rare in this administration," said one person familiar with the diplomatic efforts.

In Asia, the draw-down is expected to include the 3,500-soldier brigade from South Korea, recently deployed to Iraq, but will also include scaling down presences in several other countries in the region.

The navy's European headquarters, which has been in London since the second world war, will be moved to Naples, Italy.