White House officials announced on Friday that the United States Military will begin a withdrawal from the African nation of Niger in the coming months, ending a decade-long counterterrorism effort in the region and marking another foreign policy embarrassment for the Biden administration. As the US forces on the ground move to evacuate troops and secure a multi-million-dollar air base, the Nigerien government has begun making overtures to Russia, threatening the rise of an anti-Western coalition in West Africa.
In 2013, the US Military began operations in the politically unstable Sahel region, which stretches across northern Africa, including parts of Senegal, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Sudan, and Eritrea. The Sahel is considered one of the most dangerous zones in the world and has become a hotbed for terrorist organizations including ISIS, Al Qaeda, and other radical Islamic jihadi groups.
American forces took up a controlling position at an airbase near the city of Agadez, using the facility—known as Air Base 201—as a launching point for surveillance and bomber drones. The base has been characterized as the Pentagon’s “most strategic military asset in sub-Saharan Africa.” In the decade since the operation began, the US has poured more than $1 billion into training the Nigerien military to assist in the counterterrorism effort.
Learn the benefits of becoming a Valuetainment Member and subscribe today!
Relations between the US and Niger began to deteriorate in July 2023, when a military coup toppled democratically elected President Mohamed Bazoum and installed a military junta in his place. Since then, the new government has become increasingly opposed to continued American military presence in the region, having already cut ties with French security forces in favor of Russian ones.
The situation worsened in March of 2024 when Western intelligence agencies indicated that Niger was secretly negotiating to give Iran access to its uranium deposits. In response to that report, a junta spokesperson insisted that the sovereign Nigerien people had the right to freely choose their international partnerships.
After months of negotiation between junta-appointed Prime Minister Ali Lamine Zeine and the US State Department, Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell finally announced last week that American troops will begin withdrawing from the country. No timeline has been set for the evacuation of the more than 1,000 soldiers stationed there, but a senior military official told CBS News that the move is “a devastating blow, both for our regional counterterrorism efforts and to overall peace in the region going forward.”
The situation is reminiscent of the botched American pullout in Afghanistan in 2021, which left behind millions of dollars and hundreds of US-allied Afghanis and led to the deaths of 11 Marines, one Army paratrooper, one Navy Corpsman, and 170 Afghan citizens in a suicide bombing. The Taliban filled the power vacuum left by the US almost immediately.
Related: US Has Sent Afghanistan $11 Billion Since Withdrawal
In the wake of the latest US withdrawal, Niger has already begun strengthening ties with adversarial eastern powers, particularly Russia. Last week, more than 100 members of Russia’s paramilitary Africa Corps arrived in Niger to reinforce the country’s air defense and provide the local military with Russian equipment.
This mirrors a trend of expanding Russian influence across much of Africa, where countries are breaking established ties with Western nations and making overtures to Russian President Vladimir Putin instead. During public demonstrations, the Russian flag has become a symbol of resistance against “American imperialism” in Africa, and political parties from South Africa to Mali have embraced Russia’s assistance.
Niger has also recently strengthened its economic ties with China, which has become one of its leading trade partners.
Most of the American public only became aware of the operations in Niger in 2017, when four US servicemen were killed in an ISIS ambush near the town of Tonga Tonga.
Connor Walcott is a staff writer for Valuetainment.com. Follow Connor on X and look for him on VT’s “The Unusual Suspects.”
Add comment