Pentagon scraps plans to send 4,000 troops to Poland

The United States has scrapped plans to deploy thousands of troops to Poland, officials said, as Washington continues to reshape its forces in Europe following the decision to withdraw thousands from Germany.

The move would affect the redeployment of about 4,000 US-based troops and comes two weeks after the Pentagon, as the US Department of Defense is known, said it would pull 5,000 from Germany amid a widening rift with European allies over policy on the Iran war, reported The Associated Press.

US General Christopher LaNeve, the acting chief of staff of the US Army, told a congressional hearing about the canceled deployment on Friday.

The announcement was slammed by US lawmakers, including Democrat member of Congress Joe Courtney, who told LaNeve the decision sent a "horrible message" about US President Donald Trump's commitment to Europe.

"Frankly, it's not just our adversaries that are paying attention. It's our allies," Courtney said.

Acting Pentagon press secretary Joel Valdez told Politico: "The decision to withdraw troops follows a comprehensive, multilayered process that incorporates perspectives from key leaders in (US military in Europe) and across the chain of command. This was not an unexpected, last-minute decision."

US officials cited by AP said the deployment cancellations were aimed at complying with a presidential directive issued in early May to reduce US troop levels in Europe.

That announcement came as Trump bristled at European allies' refusal to align with Washington's Iran policy, and after he sparred with Germany's Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who said last month that Tehran was humiliating the US at the negotiating table.

Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk told a news conference on Friday that he had been assured that Poland's security would not be affected by any decisions regarding US troop presence.

"I received assurances, and this is also important to me, that these decisions are of a logistical nature and will not directly affect deterrence capabilities and our security," he said.

According to a senior figure of the NATO military alliance, cited by Reuters, rotations by allied forces are not a core element of NATO's planning. "NATO will continue to maintain a strong presence on its eastern flank, in particular the ‌Canadian and German troops there," said the official.

The US has been reassessing its forces in Europe and has long been expected to scale back its presence since Trump pressed NATO to shoulder more of the burden for the continent's defense.

The Pentagon has not yet outlined how it intends to apportion future basing and deployments across Europe, noted Reuters.

The US National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, bars US troop levels in Europe from falling below 76,000. Late last year, there were about 85,000 US troops on the continent.

The NDAA provision allows the president to go below that threshold if he certifies consultation with NATO allies and submits independent assessments of the impact on US security, the alliance, and deterrence.