Defense Minister Klich refuted claims that Poland had agreed to increase its Afghan contingent Courtesy of Wojsko Polskie

Lee A Feinstein, the new US ambassador to Poland, ruffled a few feathers at the end of October when he seemingly expressed his thanks that Poland’s next deployment of troops to Afghanistan would be increased.

Speaking to TVN24, the ambassador said that the US was grateful to the Polish president and prime minister for Poland’s “commitment to be in Afghanistan and actually to enhance its presence in Afghanistan.” However, the latter part of that quote was translated into Polish as “wzmocnić obecność w Afganistanie,” which suggests that Poland’s presence will be “strengthened.”

Polish Defense Minister Bogdan Klich quickly issued a denial, calling the ambassador’s words a “gaffe,” but excused him because of his newness in the post. “Neither the prime minister, nor the minister of foreign affairs, nor the minister of national defense made any declarations to the American side about increasing the contingent,” Mr Klich stated during a press conference.

US State Department spokesman Ian Kelly, speaking to The Washington Times, attributed the controversy to mistranslation. This was countered by Karol Smoląg, spokesperson for TVN, who said that the interpreter had done his job well and that the station was being blamed for a diplomatic blunder. 

Complicating the matter is the fact that Ambassador Feinstein’s remarks had been preceded a few days earlier by a Gazeta Wyborcza article which claimed that the Polish government planned to send an additional 600 soldiers to Afghanistan next spring.

According to Bohdan Szklarski, a US policy expert at Collegium Civitas and the University of Warsaw, the row is another sign that the diplomatic climate between Poland and the US has worsened.

“I think the increase of Polish troops had indeed already been agreed upon with the US. However, the [preemptiveness] of the ambassador’s announcement was really unfortunate. I was not surprised that Poland denied it at this point,” Mr Szklarski told WBJ.

“We have to remember that the White House is seeking social approval for its plans to send more US troops to Afghanistan. Poland sending more of its soldiers would help in obtaining that approval,” he added.