WARSAW, Poland — Polish government leaders are concerned over the Pentagon’s abrupt cancellation of a deployment of more than 4,000 soldiers to NATO’s eastern flank, citing Warsaw’s status as a multibillion-dollar U.S. weapons client in their appeal to retain American soldiers.
On May 18, Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, the country’s deputy prime minister and national defense minister, attended a ceremony in eastern Poland related to the launch of a new engine servicing hub for the Polish fleet of Abrams tanks. The event, designed to highlight existing trans-Atlantic defense ties, was overshadowed by Washington’s recent order to halt a planned nine-month U.S. Army rotation to Eastern Europe.
“The United States military that is stationed in Poland, stationed in Europe, gives security guarantees,” Kosiniak-Kamysz said at the event. “On the other hand, we have not only a [U.S.] military presence, but also great, strategic purchases in the United States. And it is difficult to find in the world, not only in Europe, a second country that has invested so heavily in purchases of the best American gear for its own needs.”
Kosiniak-Kamysz referred to Poland’s numerous U.S. weapon purchases from the past years which, in addition to tanks, comprise procurements of fighter jets, helicopters, missiles and rocket launchers.
“More than fifty billion dollars is the sum of the purchases that we are implementing in the United States,” the minister said. “This is all a great investment in the Polish-American alliance”.
Polish officials say that, if the U.S. military presence is to be decreased in Europe, they expect the cuts not to concern the troops who are already deployed to Poland.
“We understand that there is a reorganization of the American military presence in Europe. But this reorganization cannot be made at the cost of the biggest ally of the United States in Europe,” Kosiniak-Kamysz said. “We invest around 15,000 dollars every year for the deployment of each [U.S. soldier], which distinguishes us from other European countries.”
Around 10,000 U.S. soldiers are currently stationed in Poland, the majority of which have been deployed to the country as part of a rotational presence.
Jaroslaw Adamowski is the Poland correspondent for Defense News.