US To Withdraw Troops From Niger After Military Deal Revoked

US to withdraw troops from Niger after their military deal was revoked by the African country. Talks have begun on their withdrawal from Niger as of now.

The United States and Niger are negotiating plans to remove American soldiers from the West African country, which will end more than a decade of US military engagement there.

Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, Pentagon press secretary, stated during Tuesday’s press briefing that “discussions have begun between the United States and Niger for the orderly withdrawal of U.S. forces from the country.”

“In the near future, the Department of Defense will provide a small delegation from the Pentagon and U.S. Africa Command to participate in those discussions,” he said.

That delegation will arrive in Niamey, Niger, on Thursday “to initiate discussions on an orderly and responsible withdrawal of U.S. forces from Niger,” Ryder said in a statement on Wednesday, noting that the US “remains committed to countering violent extremist organizations in West Africa.”U.S. officials “will hold follow-up meetings in Niamey next week to coordinate the withdrawal process in a transparent and respectful manner.” According to Ryder.

The United States has failed to specify a schedule for withdrawing the more than 1,000 military soldiers stationed at an American drone facility in the Sahara desert near the Niger city of Agadez.

Over the weekend, videos circulated on social media showing hundreds of people marching through Agadez’s streets to protest the deployment of the US soldiers.

Niger’s current military junta, which deposed the democratically elected government in July 2023, stated this month that it will immediately terminate a 2012 military cooperation agreement with the United States, following tense discussions with high-level officials from both sides in Niamey.

The American delegation expressed “concerns over Niger’s potential relationships with Russia and Iran, as well as the status of US forces in the country,” according to the US Department of Defense.

However, the spokesperson for Niger’s junta, Col. Amadou Abdramane, condemned what he called a “condescending attitude combined with the threat of reprisals by the head of the American delegation against the people of Niger.” He accused the United States of violating democratic procedure by attempting to “deny the sovereign Nigerien people the right to choose their partners and types of partnerships capable of truly helping them fight against terrorism.”

The incident occurred just months after France, Niger’s erstwhile colonizer, complied with the junta’s demands and withdrew French soldiers from the nation amid a shifting geopolitical environment in Africa’s parched Sahel region.

Niger has long been an important partner of the United States, France, and other Western countries in their struggle against Islamist extremists in the Sahel region south of the Sahara. However, as Niger’s military administration seeks to cut such links, the country – and others in the region – are increasingly looking to Russia to address security concerns. Earlier this month, the first deployment of 100 officers from Russia’s newly formed African Corps landed in Niger.

The paramilitary force, which is directly supervised by the Russian Ministry of Defense and is thought to have been rebranded from the infamous but now-defunct Wagner Group, stated that its mission is to “develop military cooperation between Russia and Niger” and to “train” Nigerien military troops.

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