Trump announces 5,000 soldiers – Pentagon surprised

5,000 soldiers to Poland

Trump’s decision probably surprises the Pentagon

He doesn’t want to, now he wants to: Trump’s announcement that he would send 5,000 soldiers to Poland is causing confusion for many reasons.

US President Donald Trump wants to unexpectedly relocate 5,000 soldiers to Poland. Trump announced this on Thursday on his Truth Social platform. In doing so, he contradicted the Pentagon’s decision, made just a few days ago, to stop planned troop transfers to Poland.

Trump justified the move with the “successful election victory” of the national conservative Polish President Karol Nawrocki, whom he had already supported in the election campaign. Nawroki has been President of Poland since August 2025. According to the New York Times, the announcement itself caused a surprise in the Pentagon.

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The new plan is part of a US policy towards Europe that has been impulsive for weeks. Three weeks ago, the Pentagon announced that it would withdraw around 5,000 US soldiers from Germany after Trump made comments on Truth Social about Chancellor Friedrich Merz and announced that he would examine a troop withdrawal in Germany.

Some of the forces should return to the USA, others should be relocated to new locations. In addition, an expansion of American artillery units in Europe planned under President Joe Biden was stopped.

Shortly afterwards, the Pentagon stopped the planned transfer of more than 4,000 soldiers to Poland, although some units had already arrived in the country with equipment.

The decision sparked sharp cross-party criticism from MPs in the US. They warned that troop reductions in Eastern Europe could send the wrong signal to Russia. The move also caused unrest in Poland: Polish government representatives are said to have intervened in several urgent phone calls in Washington.

On Tuesday, the Pentagon said it was only a “temporary delay” in the transfer of troops to Poland. With Trump’s new initiative, this decision now seems to have been overturned.

The Pentagon did not want to comment on this development to the New York Times and referred questions to the White House. The question therefore remains open as to whether the US military would now have to withdraw troops elsewhere in order to achieve Trump’s overarching goal of troop reductions in the EU.

NATO recently emphasized that possible troop shifts would not affect the alliance’s defense capability. Canada and Germany have already increased their presence on the eastern flank.