While they will stay for more years, the policy goal has to be working toward situations that allow their removal. We shouldn't garrison Asia forever. Southeast Asia, with troubled governments and still-struggling economies, calls for more American attention. Under Clinton we have been seen as too aloof and preoccupied. Anti-Americanism is a factor in some countries, notably in Indonesia and Malaysia, where militant Islam has been growing.
Reports note a mix of Chinese diplomatic and economic activity in Southeast Asia.
That calls for American skills beyond military might. A factor is Chinese and American wooing of Vietnam, a nation that has had to fight, fear and accommodate China for more than a thousand years. None of those would be in our interest. But the social and economic system needs deeper reforms. South Asia is vast and different from East Asia.