US to Have Permanent Troop Presence in Poland as Defence Pact Agreed
The United States will establish a permanent military presence in Poland as it deploys around 1,000 additional U.S. troops there, Poland’s Defence Ministry said on Friday. Poland is setting growing store by its…
The United States will establish a permanent Military presence in Poland as it deploys around 1,000 additional U.S. troops there, Poland’s Defence Ministry said on Friday.
Poland is setting growing store by its bilateral defence relationship with its NATO partner, fearful of an increasingly assertive posture from Russia to the east since Moscow annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.
On June 12 last year, U.S. President Donald Trump agreed, with Polish President Andrzej Duda beside him at the White House, to send 1,000 more troops to his NATO ally.
But negotiations on the details of where the troops would be stationed and how much Poland would pay dragged on for years.
“We did it. We have finished the negotiations on Military cooperation,” Defence Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said in a statement.
Poland currently hosts a rotating contingent of over 4,000 U.S. troops. A permanent presence, which the statement says will now number at least 5,500 troops, is likely to cost Poland more.
The deal also involves the development of expertise for Polish forces in the areas of reconnaissance and command, with the possibility of more U.S. forces coming to Poland in case of an increased threat, the statement said.
The financial details of the new deal were not revealed in the ministry’s statement.
The U.S. Military