Posted Tuesday, March 16, 2004The number of countries in which the United States has a presence is staggering. According the U.S. Department of State’s list of “Independent States in the World,” there are 192 countries in the world, all of which, except Bhutan, Cuba, Iran, and North Korea, have diplomatic relations with the United States. All of these countries except one (Vatican City) are members of the United Nations. According to the Department of Defense publication, “Active Duty Military Personnel – Strengths by Regional Area and by Country,” (pdf file) the United States has troops in 135 countries. Here is the list:

Afghanistan Albania Algeria Antigua Argentina Azerbaijan Australia Afghanistan Albania Algeria Antigua Argentina Azerbaijan Australia Austria Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belgium Belize Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Brazil Bulgaria Burma Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Chad Chile China Columbia Congo Costa Rica Cote D’lvoire Cuba Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Djibouti Dominican Republic East Timor Ecuador Egypt

El Salvador Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Fiji Finland France Georgia Germany Ghana Greece Guatemala Guinea Haiti Honduras Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iraq Israel Italy Jamaica Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Jamaica Japan Laos Latvia Lebanon Liberia Lithuania Luxembourg Macedonia Madagascar Malawi Mali Malaysia Malta Mexico Mongolia Morocco Mozambique Nepal

Netherlands New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria North Korea Norway Oman Pakistan Paraguay Peru Philippines Poland Portugal Qatar Romania Russia Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia and Montenegro Singapore Sierra Leone Slovenia Spain South Africa South Korea Sri Lanka Suriname Syria Sweden Switzerland Tanzania Thailand Togo Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom Uruguay Venezuela Vietnam Yemen Zambia Zimbabwe

This means that the United States has troops in 70 percent of the world’s countries. The average American could probably not locate half of these 135 countries on a map.