U.S., Poland agree on enhanced defense cooperation

The Pentagon said on Monday that the United States and Poland had completed negotiations on the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA), which would enable increased U.S. military presence in the central European country.

“The EDCA will enable an increased enduring U.S. rotational presence of about 1,000 personnel, to include the forward elements of the U.S. Army’s V Corps headquarters and a Division headquarters, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities, and the infrastructure to support an armored brigade combat team and combat aviation brigade,” U.S. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said in a statement.

“This is in addition to the 4,500 U.S. personnel already on rotation in Poland,”

he added.
Notably, the EDCA negotiations were completed days after the Trump administration announced the repositioning plan for nearly 12,000 U.S. troops stationed in Germany.

Among the U.S. troops that would be withdrawn from Germany, about 5,600 will be repositioned to other NATO countries, while the rest will be returned to the United States with some beginning rotational deployment back to Europe.

The Pentagon reasoned that the objective of the redeployment plan was to strengthen NATO and enhance deterrence against Russia, however, President Donald Trump made it clear that the move was to punish Germany for its “delinquency” on military spending.
Washington and Warsaw have been strengthening their security and diplomatic ties.

The two countries are on the same page on multiple regional issues such as Iran nuclear issue, alleged Russia’s threat as well as the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project.

Poland, which joined NATO in 1999, has long sought the deployment of a permanent U.S. military force on its territory.