The US is planning “an orderly and responsible withdrawal” of its forces from Niger, a State Department official said on Friday. Niger’s military government has made it clear that the 1,000 American troops stationed there are an unwelcome presence.
At a meeting in Washington on Friday, US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and Nigerien Prime Minister Ali Lamine Zeine committed “to initiate conversations in Niamey to begin planning an orderly and responsible withdrawal of US troops from Niger,” the official said in a statement to multiple US news outlets.
An American delegation will head to the Nigerien capital in the coming days to arrange the withdrawal, the official added.
Most of the roughly 1,000 American troops deployed in the landlocked western African country are stationed at Niger Air Base 201, a $100 million facility constructed in 2016. American forces have used the base to launch drone operations across the entire Sahel region, but the facility has sat idle since a group of military officers deposed President Mohamed Bazoum’s Western-backed government last year.
