The United States will boost the number of soldiers it has deployed on the eastern frontier of the NATO alliance, increasing the garrison of ally Poland by up to 50 per cent, President Donald Trump said.
U.S. President Donald Trump spoke of his pride in announcing the redeployment of U.S. forces in Europe with an additional American troops going to Poland, on top of the perhaps 10,000 already stationed there. The President cited his good relationship with Poland’s President for the move.
The development appears to be part of Washington’s new policy towards NATO, that the members of the alliance that put most in get most out. The Trump administration announced earlier this year that it was to withdraw 5,000 troops from Germany — which has long dragged its heels on the NATO alliance and was highly critical of the Iran war — while Poland has been something of a model ally.
President Trump said: “Based on the successful Election of the now President of Poland, Karol Nawrocki, who I was proud to Endorse, and our relationship with him, I am pleased to announce that the United States will be sending an additional 5,000 Troops to Poland.”
Secretary General of NATO Mark Rutte welcomed the announcement and said the practicalities of the large deployment were now being worked out. Politico states Rutte spoke up Europe’s determination to be a better NATO ally and not rely so singularly on American defence spending, and that the welcome decision by Trump to shore up the Eastern border wouldn’t prompt the continent to slack on that.
Poland’s President — a sovereigntist conservative — is a political rival to the country’s centrist-globalist government led by Prime Minister Donald Tusk. Nevertheless, Prime Minister Tusk — generally a Trump critic — did acknowledge his President’s role in getting an extra troop deployment agreed. He said in a statement: “President Donald Trump’s decision regarding the presence of U.S. troops in Poland is good news for Poland and the USA. I thank all those involved in this matter—President Nawrocki, the ministers, congressmen, and friends of Poland in the USA—for their effectiveness and unity of action.”
The German government — also not quick to compliment President Trump — also praised the move. Their foreign minister said on Friday: “It serves not only for Poland’s security, but for the security of the whole alliance and so also for us. So, this is absolutely in our interest”.
Poland is one of the NATO alliance’s most eastward members and has a long land border with the Russian Kaliningrad region and Russian puppet state Belarus, which has been an important partner to Moscow in their invasion of Ukraine. Given its particularly high exposure to the perceived threat of invasion and its history of Russian domination as a Warsaw Pact country during the Cold War, Poland is among the most hawkish NATO members on Russia but unlike some it has invested heavily in its own military.
The announcement of more troops for Poland’s NATO garrison comes amid some confusion after the U.S. initially announced it was cutting Poland’s detachment by 4,000 men. This was later walked back as a “temporary delay” in deployment.