(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) The White House confirmed on Wednesday that the Obama Administration will cut 40,000 troops from the US military by the end of 2017, but made no mention of reported budgetary constraints.

The Pentagon is expected to formally announce the cuts, which include 17,000 of its civilian personnel, later this week.

"This is part of a long-planned drawdown and a multi-year process as part of the quadrennial defense review. This is an interagency effort and obviously the president has confidence in the army's continued ability to fight and win our nation's wars," White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters. "These are steps that we're taking consistent with the view of our civilian and uniformed military leadership about the threats that the country faces, and the need to ensure that our fighting force is composed in a way that's consistent with those threats," he added. "The fact is, it's not uncommon to see these kinds of fluctuations when it comes to the number of the force, and it's a testament to the president following through on the commitment that he made at the beginning of his presidency to responsibly withdraw troops from Iraq and to make some responsible decisions about Afghanistan that has reduced our military footprint and continues to put us on a path of reducing the number of military personnel that are committed to that country as well," Earnest said.