The U.S. official, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said the troops that were meant to rotate into Poland might instead come from elsewhere.<\/p>\n
Still, LaNeve declined to speculate about rotations of troops into Poland from elsewhere in Europe, saying that would be up to the commander of U.S. troops in Europe.<\/p>\n
Don Bacon, a Republican lawmaker from Nebraska, said he spoke with officials in Poland and said they were blindsided by a decision he called “reprehensible” and “an embarrassment to our country.”<\/p>\n
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said he had received assurances that Poland’s security would not be impacted by any decisions on the U.S. troop presence.<\/p>\n
“I received assurances, and this is also important to me, that these decisions are of a logistical nature and will \u200cnot directly affect deterrence capabilities and our security,” he told a news conference on Friday.<\/p>\n
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk speaks after signing of the SAFE programm loan agreement, making it the first EU member state to sign the agreement, in Warsaw, May 8. Tusk said on Friday he was reassured a decision to not deploy U.S. troops would not affect the nation’s security. (Photo: Kacper Pempel, Reuters)<\/p>\n
The U.S. has been reviewing its troop presence in Europe and has long \u200bbeen expected to scale it back following demands from Trump that NATO take a larger role in the defense of Europe. The Pentagon has not yet detailed how it envisions future troop laydowns across the continent.<\/p>\n
Even as lawmakers expressed exasperation and confusion over the Poland decision, the Pentagon said it followed “a comprehensive, multilayered process.”<\/p>\n
“This was not an unexpected, last-minute decision, and it would be false to report it as such,” Pentagon spokesperson Joel Valdez said.<\/p>\n
Trump’s anger over Iran<\/p>\n
Trump has also been angered that European allies did not join the war against Iran, and sparred with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who last month said the Iranians were humiliating the U.S. in negotiations.<\/p>\n
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat who sits on the Senate armed services committee, told reporters the Poland decision appeared to be a surprise.<\/p>\n
“As far as I know, we weren’t notified about it,” she told reporters.<\/p>\n
When the Germany withdrawal was announced, a senior U.S. official said it would bring U.S. troop levels in Europe back to roughly pre-2022 levels, before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine triggered a buildup by then President Joe \u200bBiden.<\/p>\n
The latest decisions to withdraw troops also came amid increasing pressure from Washington on European countries to raise defense spending, and accusations that reliance on U.S. forces had allowed them to neglect their own militaries.<\/p>\n
Reuters exclusively reported last month an internal Pentagon email that outlined options to punish \u200cNATO allies that \u200cWashington believes failed to support U.S. operations in the \u2060war with Iran, including suspending Spain from NATO and reviewing the U.S. position on Britain’s claim to the Falkland Islands.<\/p>\n