Poland welcomes U.S. statements that troop reduction there is temporary

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Polish officials on Wednesday welcomed U.S. statements clarifying that the decision not to deploy 4,000 U.S. troops to the central European country was a temporary measure.

The Polish government last week reacted with disbelief at news that 4,000 troops from the Army’s 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division were no longer en route as planned to the country that borders Ukraine.

The Trump administration previously said it was cutting U.S. forces in Germany, a decision sparking unease and criticism in both Europe and Washington.

On Tuesday night, the chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell called it a “temporary delay” of the deployment of U.S. forces to Poland, which he described as a “model U.S. ally.”

Poland spends the most in the NATO military alliance on defense as a proportion of its economy, around 4.7% in 2025.

Parnell called the delay a result of the U.S. reducing the number of brigade combat teams assigned to Europe from four to three, and indicated the Pentagon needed to decide which troops to station where.

Also speaking on Tuesday night, Vice President JD Vance disputed that the U.S. was reducing troop levels in Poland: “That’s not a reduction. That’s just a standard delay in rotation that sometimes happens in these situations.”

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk on Wednesday said he was happy to hear “Washington’s declaration that Poland will be treated as it deserves.”

Polish Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, who spoke with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Tuesday night, said the new U.S. statements mean that the “U.S. presence is maintained.”

He added: “Sometimes a rotating model can change into a permanent model and this is always much better.” Around 10,000 U.S. troops are typically stationed in Poland, the majority of them present on a rotational basis.

Polish officials said they were told they would be involved in discussions about the reorganization of U.S. troops in Europe.

The U.S. did not say how long the delay would last. The Polish defense minister said he was hoping for clarification on troop presence in the following weeks.

But Tusk said Europeans should be under no illusion about Washington’s determination to reduce its military presence on the continent and the need for Europeans to fill the gap.

On Wednesday, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said U.S. allies have known for a year that the Trump administration would be withdrawing some troops from Europe and it expects, “rightly, for Europe and Canada to take a bigger responsibility for the conventional defense of NATO and particularly, of course, the European part of NATO.”

Rutte said the U.S. “will stay involved” but over time could pivot resources elsewhere in the world.

The Trump administration has warned that Europe would have to look after its own security, including Ukraine’s, in the future.

Trump and the Pentagon have said they were drawing down at least 5,000 troops in Germany after Chancellor Friedrich Merz said the U.S. was being “humiliated” by Iran’s leadership and criticized what he called a lack of strategy in the war.

___

Associated Press writer Lorne Cook in Brussels contributed.