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US Troops to Complete Withdrawal from Niger by Mid-September
The Pentagon and Nigerien defense officials have announced that US troops ordered out of Niger by the country's ruling junta will complete their withdrawal by the middle of September. The decision to kick out American forces has dealt a blow to US military operations in the Sahel, a region south of the Sahara desert. The US will leave behind infrastructure it has built over the years to support the approximately 1,000 troops who have been based there to conduct counterterrorism missions. The officials are still looking at options on how to fill the gap left by the withdrawal of US troops. The rupture in military cooperation followed last July’s ouster of the country’s democratically elected president by mutinous soldiers. The US has invested millions of dollars in the Agadez base, which has been critical to US counterterrorism operations in the Sahel. The Pentagon has also said the US will relocate most of the approximately 100 forces it has deployed in neighboring Chad for now. Talks are expected to resume next month about revising an agreement that allows US troops to be based in Chad.
