Pompeo inks deal to support deploying more US troops to Poland
WARSAW — U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo sealed a defense cooperation deal Saturday with Polish officials that will pave the way to deploy more American troops to Poland.
Pompeo, at the end of a four-nation tour of central and eastern Europe, signed the deal with Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak that sets the legal framework for the additional troops.
“This is going to be an extended guarantee: a guarantee that in case of a threat our soldiers are going to stand armin-arm,” Poland’s President Andrzej Duda said. “It will also serve to increase the security of other countries in our part of Europe.”
The deal would also further other aspects of U.S.-Polish cooperation, he added, citing primarily investment and trade ties.
Some 4,500 U.S. troops are based in Poland, but about 1,000 more are to be added. Last month, in line with President Donald Trump’s demand to reduce troop numbers in Germany, the Pentagon announced 12,000 troops would be withdrawn from Germany with about 5,600 moving to other countries in Europe, including Poland.
In addition, several U.S. military commands will be moved out of Germany.
Saturday’s signing came one day after the Trump administration suffered an embarrassing diplomatic loss at the United Nations when its proposal to indefinitely extend an arms embargo on Iran was defeated in a U.N. Security Council vote that saw only one country side with the U.S. Pompeo will visit that country, the Dominican Republic, on Sunday for the inauguration of its new president.
Pompeo said in Warsaw that it was “unfortunate” that France and the U.K., permanent members of the Security Council, did not support the U.S. position and that Washington would continue to press the issue.
“The United States simply wanted the keep the same rules that have been in place since 2007,” he said. “I think there are a lot of people who understand that it is not in the world’s best interest to allow this arms embargo to expire.”
Pompeo has used his Europe trip to warn the region’s young democracies about threats posed by Russia and China. In Poland, the reception was particularly warm, given the friendship between Trump and conservative Polish President Duda, who was sworn in for a second term earlier this month after a hotly contested election.
Many policies pushed by Poland’s ruling conservative government have put Poland at odds with the European Union.