The Pentagon confirms talks to withdraw US troops from Niger

WASHINGTON – The United States is in talks to withdraw troops from Niger, more than a month after the country’s ruling junta American troops ordered to leave, the Pentagon said Monday.

The Biden administration’s second top diplomat, Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell, told the junta-appointed prime minister, Ali Lamine Zeine, on Friday that the two countries would plan for the withdrawal of more than 1,100 US troops in the country.

Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder of the U.S. Air Force confirmed Monday that talks had begun with Niamey regarding “the orderly withdrawal of U.S. forces from the country.”

The Defense Department and officers from the US Africa Command, based in Stuttgart, Germany, participated in the discussions, military officials said.

Why it matters: The U.S. military presence at Air Base 201 near Agadez is a linchpin of the Pentagon’s counterterrorism operations in the Sahel, where Islamist jihadist groups have increased attacks on government forces in recent years.

The presence of US troops is a continuing point of leverage for Washington in Central Africa, as Russian paramilitary forces have increasingly made inroads into the region, striking deals with national governments offering protection, often in exchange for concessions on natural resources. resources.

The Pentagon froze cooperation with Nigerian forces after a July 2023 coup led by the head of the country’s presidential guard, curtailing the presence of US troops in the country and consolidating remaining forces at the Agadez drone base.

Still, the Biden administration chose to keep troops in Niger after the coup. Officials in Washington urged Niger’s junta leaders to reinstate President Mohamed Barzoum while looking for ways to potentially resume military cooperation. “There has been direct contact with military leaders urging them to step aside,” department spokesman Matthew Miller said on August 7, less than two weeks after the coup.

During a tense meeting in Niamey in February, the State Department’s top official for Africa, Molly Phee, confronted Nigerian junta officials over their ties to Russia and accused them of allowing Iran to source uranium from the country, which the junta leaders prompted the withdrawal of the country’s defenses. agreement with the United States.

Russia and Niger signed a new defense partnership agreement in January, Russian state media reported at the time. Last week, the Kremlin delivered the “latest generation of anti-aircraft systems” to the country, along with 100 Russian military trainers, Niamey’s state broadcaster RTN claimed.

Series of losses: Following a 2021 coup in neighboring Mali, officials ousted a nine-year French counter-terrorism mission after striking a deal with Russian paramilitary forces for security.

Russia has exploited the expansion of Sunni jihadist groups in the Sahel to strike deals with a range of African governments, often in the wake of coups, some of which have been carried out by national forces previously trained by the US military.

The top US military general overseeing forces in Africa, US Marine Corps General Michael Langley, attributed the Kremlin’s success to its disinformation campaigns on the continent, which he said fueled local unrest and opposition to the United States and their allies had incited.

“That is NATO’s southern flank. We must be able to maintain access and influence across the Maghreb, all the way from Morocco to Libya,” Langley told Senate lawmakers last month.

Plan C: Biden administration officials have begun looking for alternative bases for drone operations in West African countries in an effort to bolster intelligence gathering in the region.

U.S. troops have not yet begun to withdraw from Niger as a result of the latest discussions, Pentagon officials said Monday. US officials refused to acknowledge any timeline for the withdrawal.