WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump announced that the United States will send an additional 5,000 troops to Poland, linking the decision to the election of Polish President Karol Nawrocki. The announcement followed steps by the Trump administration to reduce U.S. troop levels in Europe by about 5,000.

"Based on the successful Election of the now President of Poland, Karol Nawrocki, who I was proud to Endorse, and our relationship with him, I am pleased to announce that the United States will be sending an additional 5,000 Troops to Poland," Trump said. In recent weeks, Trump and the Pentagon said they were drawing down at least 5,000 troops in Germany. A deployment to Germany of personnel trained to fire long-range missiles was halted.

U.S. officials confirmed that about 4,000 service members were no longer deploying to Poland, part of an effort to comply with Trump's order to reduce the number of troops in Europe.

Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said the deployment of U.S. forces to Poland was temporarily delayed. He said the delay resulted from reducing the number of brigade combat teams assigned to Europe from four to three, and that the Pentagon still needed to decide which troops to station where. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Defense Undersecretary Elbridge Colby both spoke with their Polish counterparts during the week of the announcement.

Ian Kelly, a retired U.S. ambassador and professor of international relations, questioned the process behind the moves. "There seems to be no process to deliberating policies like troop withdrawals and deployments at the top," Kelly said. He added, "These are impulsive decisions based on Trump's whims or what his advisors think are Trump's whims."