Europeans cannot assume that America’s military presence on the continent will last forever, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Friday.
“The American troop levels on the continent are important,” he said, speaking in Warsaw alongside his Polish counterpart, Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz. “What happens five, 10, 15 years from now is part of a larger discussion that reflects the threat level, America’s posture, our needs around the globe, but most importantly the capability of European countries to step up.”
“That’s why our message is so stark to our European allies — now is the time to invest because you can’t make an assumption that America’s presence will last forever,” he added.
Hegseth’s comments come on the heels of a two-day meeting at NATO’s Brussels headquarters that marked his debut on the European stage. He had already hinted then that Europeans would eventually have to provide most of the conventional deterrence against Russia.
The U.S. is currently reviewing its global military presence, but no decision has been made yet on changing force deployments.
Hegseth’s visit to Poland was his first bilateral meeting since he was confirmed by the U.S. Senate. There was a lot of love in the air between him and Kosiniak-Kamysz.
Poland is historically one of America’s closest European allies, seeing the U.S. as a bulwark protecting it against Russia. Poland, which spent centuries under Russian domination, is the top spender in NATO as a percentage of economic output; this year’s defense budget will be 4.7 percent of GDP. That makes it the closest ally to reaching U.S. President Donald Trump’s call for military spending to hit 5 percent of GDP.
“Poland is a country that understands threats. It sees, it feels, because it has its own history, where these threats often resulted in war in our territory, in our beloved homeland,” Kosiniak-Kamysz said. “Freedom needs strength; peace needs strength. There is no such strength without spending.”
Warsaw has also been a big buyer of U.S. weapons, from M1 Abrams tanks to General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon and Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II jet fighters.
After years of pressure, Poland has succeeded in getting 8,000 U.S. troops permanently stationed in the country.
That got Hegseth to again call Poland a “model ally.”
He said the “level of partnership is unmatched in Europe, the common bond is unlike others in Europe.” He also praised Poland for investing in local infrastructure for U.S. troops.
“The invitation we receive here, if anything, would make me want to have more troops to Poland — that’s not a policy statement, that’s just how I feel,” Hegseth told reporters.
The two defense chiefs pledged to enhance cooperation.
Poland and the U.S. will set up joint ventures to boost “capacity to produce ammunition, armament,” said Kosiniak-Kamysz. Poland “wants to be a service hub for the American equipment used on NATO’s eastern border,” he added.
In a testament to the special bond between Warsaw and Washington, Kosiniak-Kamysz announced that the Polish armed forces would be exempt from Trump’s recent freeze of the U.S. State Department’s Foreign Military Financing program, which enables eligible partner nations to purchase American gear.
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