Poland’s defense minister said Monday that the U.S. would soon resume a troop rotation that the Pentagon abruptly suspended this spring, potentially resolving a dispute that has threatened to cost President Donald Trump some Republican votes for his defense spending agenda.
Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said he had been informed by senior U.S. officials in Poland that the suspended rotation was returning, which he called an “extremely positive signal.”
“I was pleased to receive information from the deputy U.S. ambassador to Poland, the U.S. military attaché in Poland, that the rotation that was suspended several weeks ago is returning,” Kosiniak-Kamysz reportedly said in Poland during a ceremony to finalize Warsaw’s purchase of American missiles. “It will continue, and in the coming weeks, the rotation of U.S. troops in Poland will be completed.”
But Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska, one of the House Republicans who threatened to withhold support for the administration’s spending plans over the issue, said he is waiting for proof. Bacon chairs the House Baltic Caucus.
“If it’s true,” Bacon told NOTUS when asked whether the news satisfied his concerns about the administration’s Iran war supplemental and reconciliation bills.
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“With this Pentagon civilian crew, it’s important to see concrete actions and statements … not just from allies,” Bacon added. “It sounds positive, but we’ll see how they proceed.”
The Pentagon declined to comment.
The abrupt Pentagon decision in May to halt the planned rotation of roughly 4,000 Army soldiers to Poland surprised Polish officials and angered some U.S. lawmakers. The Pentagon said at the time the decision reflected logistics and efforts to optimize the U.S. military presence in Europe.
Trump later said the U.S. would send another 5,000 troops to Poland, without discussing the details. Bacon and other lawmakers have since pressed the administration for evidence that it would follow through.
Bacon said last month that he would not support the administration’s defense-heavy reconciliation plans without a plan to restore the forces. He also linked the issue to the administration’s separate $88 billion emergency spending request to help the Pentagon cover the cost of the Iran war and replenish weapons stockpiles.
The dispute over Poland has become a flashpoint in a broader debate over the Trump administration’s plans to shift more responsibility for Europe’s defense onto NATO allies and how that shift is being carried out.
Speaking Monday in Ankara, Turkey, ahead of this week’s NATO summit there, alliance Secretary General Mark Rutte strongly defended the rebalancing and rejected concerns that a Pentagon review of U.S. forces in Europe was dividing the alliance.
Rutte called regular reviews of the U.S. military’s force posture “only wise” and said the Pentagon had pledged to conduct its review in close coordination with allies. He argued that Europe’s dependence on the U.S. had been unsustainable and that allies taking on more responsibility would strengthen NATO.
“We are now creating an alliance which is sustainable, where the U.S. knows it is a fair deal,” Rutte said, pointing to increases in European and Canadian defense spending.
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