Poland has 'no doubt' about US commitment to NATO: minister

Poland's defence minister said Friday he was confident about US President Donald Trump's commitment to NATO amid doubts raised by his failure to publicly endorse the alliance's guarantee of collective defence. Allies who had hoped to hear Trump declare his commitment to NATO's Article 5 were left disappointed as he made no public mention of it at Thursday's summit in Brussels. But Polish Defence Minister Antoni Macierewicz told public broadcaster TVP Friday that he had "heard" Trump at talks held behind closed doors and "had no doubt that the US will absolutely respect Article 5 and the troop commitments they have made" on NATO's eastern flank. "It was very clearly said that the US is committed to NATO and to security on its eastern flank," Macierewicz added. The US Army Europe set up a new headquarters in Poland this month to command some 6,000 of its troops deployed in NATO and Pentagon operations across the alliance's eastern flank aimed at deterring nearby Russia. The move is one of the largest deployments of US forces in Europe since the Cold War and is meant to reassure NATO's easternmost allies spooked by Russia's frequent military exercises near the region and its 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine. "It was very clearly said: America is in NATO, America wants to be in NATO, America will always support NATO," Macierewicz said of Trump's words at the Brussels summit. The Polish defence minister said he believed that Trump's doubts were focused on the alliance's finances and "the wealthiest countries that benefit from US protection in NATO... but don't want to contribute in line with their abilities." Trump accused "23 of the 28" NATO member nations of failing to pay their fair share of the defence bill. "This is not fair to the people and taxpayers of the United States. Many of these nations owe massive amounts of money from past years," Trump said. NATO members agreed in 2014 to allocate two percent of GDP to defence, but few have so far met that target. Just days ahead of the summit, Macierewicz endorsed plans to raise Poland's defence spending from the current two percent of GDP to 2.5 percent by 2030.