European nations

Germany has taken more asylum-seekers than any other EU country and is one of only a handful of nations that has accepted significant numbers. It expects about 800,000 migrants to arrive this year; about four times the number it saw in 2014.

Merkel pressed anew for quotas to spread the migrants out among more countries in the 28-nation EU, a call that has run into stiff resistance — in particular from eastern nations including Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland.

Defense Secretary Ash Carter made the announcement on Tuesday.

Carter's announcement, made as he stood with defense chiefs from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, comes a day after he announced that the U.S. would be contributing weapons, aircraft and forces, including commandos, as needed for NATO's new rapid reaction force, to help Europe defend against potential Russian aggression from the east and the Islamic State and other violent extremists from the south.