US Military Ends Troop Withdrawal from Niger as Instability Rises in Sahel Region

The United States military said on Monday it had completed the withdrawal of all its troops and assets from Niger by the September 15 deadline set. The pullout was gradual and started in May after Niger’s new leadership voided a military cooperation deal with Washington.

The decision came in the wake of a coup in Niger last year, after which its new authority began to alienate itself from its Western allies and turned to Russia for military support. The pullout of nearly 1,000 US military personnel would be a significant defeat for Washington. Up until the time of the coup, Niger had served as one of the most important counterterrorism allies in the region against Islamist insurgents.

Along with France and other European powers, the US had invested hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid and training in Niger. About two dozen American soldiers stayed on after the transfer of its last military bases to Nigerian authorities last month to supervise the final stretches of withdrawal.

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This departure, again, fuels worries about the proliferating number of extremist groups operating in the West African region. Al-Qaeda and Islamic State-affiliated groups traverse the vast expanse south of the Sahara desert. More recently, Jama’a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin, widely named JNIM, operates in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger reportedly intent on extending its reach to neighboring Benin and Togo.

But the recent withdrawal now tilts the balance in terms of power and security dynamics in the region, and it is also something of interest to Western nations as Niger realigns its partnerships in an increasingly threatened landscape by extremist activities.