The US military will fully withdraw its roughly 1,000 troops from Niger after the two sides failed to reach a deal allowing American forces to remain in the country, officials said over the weekend. The frayed alliance ends eight months after the Niger military overthrew the government, a move eventually designated as an illegal coup by the US.
Since that time, Niger’s military junta has established closer ties with Russia, which has recently trained local forces. Analysts say Moscow has both directly or tacitly supported recent coups in places like Mali and Burkina Faso, often using Libya as a gateway to funnel arms and equipment.
The US established a presence in Niger in 2013—including building a $110M Air Force base in 2018—as a command center for operations in Africa's Sahel region. The sub-Saharan region has seen a significant rise in extremist violence, accounting for more than 40% of global terrorism-related deaths in 2022.
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