The Pentagon said on Thursday it will “reposition” troops and equipment in Niger, and withdraw some “non-essential personnel,” due to “an abundance of caution” as the security situation deteriorates.
“There is no threat to American troops and no threat of violence on the ground. This is simply a precautionary measure,” Pentagon press secretary Sabrina Singh said at a news conference Thursday.
Singh said the plan was to reposition “some of our personnel and some of our assets from Airbase 101 in Niamey to Airport 201 in Agadez.”
Those locations are about 570 miles apart. The U.S. currently has about 1,100 personnel in Niger.
“That’s just simply precautionary. Our force posture hasn’t changed,” Singh insisted.
“We’re hopeful that there can be some diplomatic way to resolve what’s happening. We’re certainly not supportive of military takeovers of a democratically elected leader or government,” she added.
Unnamed U.S. officials told Reuters on Thursday that the move was a “consolidation” of forces that represented “prudent military planning to safeguard U.S. assets while continuing to address the threat of violent extremism in the region.”
“This does not change our overall force posture in Niger, and we continue to review all options as we assess a way forward. The movement of U.S. assets has been coordinated with and approved by the appropriate authorities,” one of the officials said.
None of these sources were willing to specify how many American personnel are relocating, how many are leaving Niger entirely, or exactly why the difficult relocation was considered necessary.
“It is generally easier to evacuate people from a single location, though there is no evidence that is imminent,” Reuters mused.
The Biden administration has been extremely reluctant to label the military takeover of Nigeria a “coup,” because using that term would impose constraints on how much security assistance the U.S. could provide, and Niger is a crucial theater in counter-terrorist operations. Reuters’ sources seemed exasperated with Niger’s military leadership, however, and they skated very close to the forbidden verbiage by describing the takeover as an “attempted coup.”
“The leaders of this attempted coup are putting Niger’s security at risk, creating a potential vacuum that terrorist groups or other malign groups may exploit,” one of the officials fumed.
The base American personnel are relocating to, Air Base 201 in Agadez, is an expensive U.S. facility that has been sending drones to attack ISIS and al-Qaeda targets in the Sahel for the past five years. Air Base 101 in Niamey also has drone launch capabilities.
On Friday, two more unnamed U.S. officials told Voice of America News (VOA) that drone operations from U.S. bases in Niger have been “limited” since the junta takeover in July. Counter-terrorism analysts told VOA that was very bad news, because drone strikes from Niger have been one of the most important tools for keeping jihadis in the Sahel under control:
The United States “is barely keeping a lid on this problem, and when you remove that, when you remove all of those enablers that help keep these jihadists from overrunning countries or overrunning regions, then you are giving them an advantage,” said Bill Roggio, a former soldier and editor of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Long War Journal, which publishes reporting and analysis of global counterterrorism efforts.
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Limiting those missions has a “significant effect” on the military’s ability to conduct counterterror operations, according to retired Marine Gen. Frank McKenzie, the former commander of U.S. military operations in the Middle East.
“It reduces your ability to find targets. It reduces your ability to go to the final stages when you’re going to be able to attack,” he told VOA.
Roggio added that U.S. drones flying out of Niger have been important for keeping Mail, which also suffered a coup in 2020, from the clutches of jihadists.
French troops and Russia’s brutal mercenary Wagner Group have been the other important shields against an Islamist conquest of Mali. The Wagner Group is currently in disarray following the suspicious death of founders Yevgeny Prigozhin and Dmitry Utkin in a plane crash on August 23, while Niger has turned against the French and is trying to evict them.
“If the U.S. is not able to fly counterterrorism missions from Niger, is Mali the next state to fall after Afghanistan?” Roggio wondered.
On Friday, two Department of Defense (DoD) officials told Politico that the U.S. troop presence in Niger could be cut “nearly in half” over “the next few weeks.”
“It’s about matching the right people to the right mission. The number is not as important to us as the function they are performing,” one of the officials said.
“We are trying to reduce the footprint in Niamey but still maintain our ability to conduct counterterrorism operations,” said the other.
Niger’s Gen. Abdourahmane Tchiani, former leader of the presidential guard, declared himself president on July 28 after placing elected leader Mohamed Bazoum under arrest. Security analysts feared the coup could have a devastating impact on regional security and stability.
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has threatened military intervention if Bazoum is not restored to power. French President Emmanuel Macron refuses to recognize the junta or obey its orders to pull French personnel out of the country, insisting that only Bazoum has the authority to make such a request.
France is reportedly frustrated with the Biden administration’s unwillingness to call the situation in Niger a “coup” or take stronger action against the perpetrators. Washington is correspondingly uneasy with France’s tough attitude toward the junta, which could lead to a military confrontation.