Bartosz Grodecki, head of the Polish president's National Security Bureau (BBN), told reporters after a meeting with Colby in Washington on Thursday that planning work on the resumed rotation was still underway.
"As far as completing the rotation is concerned, we are still waiting for the planning work to conclude," he said.
"No timeline or [information] on which unit exactly we can expect in Poland has been given, but—importantly—the question of whether that unit will come is not being questioned at all," he added.
He said planners would decide on details "as quickly as possible."
Grodecki said the completion of the rotation was being treated separately from plans for a permanent US base in Poland, on which he said Washington was also positive.
"A permanent base is on the agenda, and there is strong will to start this project," he said, citing close ties between the Polish and US presidents.
He added that launching the plan required "starting the process."
"We need to submit an offer as quickly as possible, and that initial offer should of course include special legislation to speed up the process, the construction process for such infrastructure, a timeline and ... assurance of financing," he said.
Asked how many US troops would ultimately be stationed in Poland, following President Donald Trump's pledge to send "5,000 additional troops" after the rotation of a 4,000-strong armored brigade was halted, Grodecki said the current figure was "about 10,000 troops," including the shortfall still to be filled, separate from the planned permanent base.
He said building the permanent base would take "at least two, maybe up to three years," at a cost of billions of Polish zlotys.
"Looking at how much we are currently spending on armaments and the need to arm ourselves ... these are not costs that would be impossible to bear for the state budget," he added.
A day earlier, Marcin Przydacz, head of the Polish president's International Policy Bureau, suggested the armored brigade rotation from Texas, abruptly halted in May, would not resume.
"The declaration on the additional 5,000 troops was upheld," Przydacz said after meeting US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. "But that certainly does not mean that the suspended brigade of 4,000 troops, which was not rotating, will now arrive in Poland."
Grodecki told reporters on Thursday that there was "enormous openness on the US side" to Poland joining the nuclear sharing program.
Asked by Poland's PAP news agency whether this meant nuclear warheads could potentially be stationed in Poland, he did not give details, saying only that it concerned "joining the program."
"In what form — we currently have, above all, the capability with our F-35s to carry such capabilities. That is not being specified today, but the willingness itself ... the warm reception we've received in Washington, understanding of our role on the eastern flank ... means we are able today to speak very openly and positively about joining this program," Grodecki said.
Nuclear sharing is a NATO program under which the United States deploys nuclear weapons on the territory of selected member states that do not have their own nuclear arsenals. Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium and Turkey currently participate.
(jh/gs)
Source: PAP