Poland scrambles to respond after Pentagon ditches troop deployment plan

WARSAW — Poland, one of the closest U.S. allies in Europe, was blindsided by this week’s surprise decision from Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth to cancel the planned deployment of 4,000 American troops to the country.  

The government is now scrambling to respond while insisting that the move doesn’t undermine the country’s security.

“The assurance we have received is that the Americans do not plan to systematically reduce the U.S. presence in Poland,” Deputy Defense Minister Paweł Zalewski told the TVN24 news channel Thursday evening.

But there was no disguising that the U.S. move left Poland flat-footed.

It wasn’t clear why Hegseth canceled the deployment of the 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division — a decision made after the unit had begun preparations to depart for Europe. Acting Pentagon press secretary Joel Valdez said the move was “not an unexpected, last-minute decision.”

Donald Trump has repeatedly expressed anger and frustration with European allies for their failure to help with the Iran war, however, Hegseth has previously labeled Poland a “model ally” for its defense spending, which is the highest in NATO.

Although Poland is deeply divided politically between the pro-EU government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk, and nationalist and MAGA-aligned President Karol Nawrocki, there is a broad consensus that the presence of American troops is crucial to Poland’s defense against Russia.

Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz said he called both Tusk and Nawrocki after the news about the deployment broke. He also held a Thursday evening call with U.S. Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, commander of U.S. forces in Europe as well as NATO’s supreme allied commander Europe.

“We are in constant contact with the U.S. side,” Kosiniak-Kamysz said in the Polish parliament Thursday. “Poland is a steadfast ally that fulfills all its obligations under the North Atlantic Treaty. We spend nearly 5 percent of our GDP on defense.”

Polish officials insisted that the canceled deployment doesn’t undermine the broader U.S. commitment to European defense.

“I have no doubts about the U.S. guarantees to Poland,” Tomasz Siemoniak, a former defense minister now in charge of Poland’s intelligence agencies, told Polish television Friday.

But U.S. actions are confusing Europe.

Poland’s Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz looks on before the signing of the SAFE loan agreement between the European Union and Poland at the Chancellery of the Polish Prime Minister in Warsaw on May 8, 2026. | Wojtek Radwanski/AFP via Getty Images

The Pentagon earlier this month confirmed the U.S. will withdraw 5,000 troops from military bases in Germany, following through on a threat Trump made after sparring with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz over the Iran war. Trump has since gone on to warn that the Pentagon would be “cutting a lot further than 5,000.”

Poland, along with Romania and the Baltic countries, is hoping to get some of the troops being withdrawn from Germany, although it is still unclear if they’ll stay in Europe or go home.

Trump last week said  he “might” move U.S. troops to Poland. “I have a great relationship with the president,” he said, “so that’s possible.”

However, Trump has also questioned the U.S. commitment to NATO’s Article 5 common defense pact and threatened to annex Greenland, a territory of alliance member Denmark.

Poland has about 500 U.S. troops stationed permanently in the country at the naval support facility in Redzikowo, which supports an American naval anti-ballistic missile system; at the headquarters of the 5th U.S. Army Corps in Poznań, which coordinates U.S. ground forces deployed around Europe; and at an armed forces garrison, which provides infrastructure support.

In addition, as many as 10,000 U.S. soldiers rotate regularly through the country.

The majority of Poles favor having a U.S. military base on their territory, according to recent polling, making it an outlier among other European nations.

Polish governments have pushed for years to increase the number of U.S. troops in the country — making Hegseth’s decision such a surprise to Warsaw.

Krzysztof Bosak, leader of the far-right opposition Confederation party, condemned what he called “internal chaos and a loss of credibility on the part of our most important ally,” telling Polish radio that the unexpected decision “doesn’t build credibility.”

Despite those doubts, the government maintains that there is no crisis.

“I would like to reassure everyone who is concerned. The number of U.S. troops in Poland is not decreasing. We are working to increase both the size and the operational capabilities of the U.S. forces stationed in Poland,” Kosiniak-Kamysz said.