Pentagon Moving Ahead With Plans to Pull US Troops From Niger, Draw Down in Chad

The U.S. military is moving ahead with plans to pull troops out of the African countries of Chad and Niger, Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder announced on Thursday. Chad and Niger have partnered with U.S. forces in the past to combat terrorism and insurgencies in the Sahel, a transitionary region between the Sahara desert of North Africa and Central Africa. Last month, Niger’s military junta government discontinued an agreement that allowed U.S. forces to operate in the country, and neighboring Chad has also begun to question their partnership with the United States. At a Thursday Pentagon press briefing, Maj. Gen. Ryder announced U.S. Ambassador to Niger Kathleen FitzGibbon and Major General Kenneth Ekman, Director of Strategy, Engagement and Programs for U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) had begun meetings in the Nigerien capital of Niamey to the junta government—known as the National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland or CNSP—to discuss “an orderly and safe withdrawal” of U.S. troops from the country....