{"id":147063,"date":"2023-09-12T09:15:45","date_gmt":"2023-09-12T13:15:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/valorguardians.com\/blog\/?p=147063"},"modified":"2023-09-12T12:28:48","modified_gmt":"2023-09-12T16:28:48","slug":"american-military-troops-repositioned-in-niger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/valorguardians.com\/blog\/?p=147063","title":{"rendered":"American military troops repositioned in Niger"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The United States announced that it has repositioned some troops and equipment in Niger and that it plans to pull a small number of non-essential personnel out. Prior to the coup, the U.S. military was training Niger’s forces on how to conduct counter-terrorism actions. The U.S. military also used drones against terrorist organizations working in the area.<\/p>\n

From Reuters:<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

“The movement of U.S. assets has been coordinated with and approved by the appropriate authorities.”<\/p>\n

The officials declined to give more details on the reason for the repositioning. It is generally easier to evacuate people from a single location, though there is no evidence that is imminent.<\/p>\n

Over the past decade, U.S. troops have trained Niger’s forces in counter-terrorism and conducted drone missions against Islamic State and an al Qaeda affiliate in the region.<\/p>\n

After the coup, the United States paused certain foreign assistance programs for Niger and military training has been on hold. Troops have largely been confined to the bases.<\/p>\n

The administration of President Joe Biden has not formally labeled the military takeover in Niger a coup, a designation that would limit what security assistance Washington can provide the country.<\/p>\n

“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,” the official said.<\/p>\n

The United States has been pressing for a diplomatic resolution of the crisis that erupted on July 26 when Niger military officers seized power, deposed President Mohamed Bazoum and placed him under house arrest.<\/p>\n

The new U.S. ambassador to Niger, Kathleen FitzGibbon, only arrived in the capital, Niamey, last month.<\/p>\n

The U.S. drone base known as Air Base 201 was built near Agadez in central Niger at a cost of more than $100 million. Since 2018, it has been used to target Islamic State and al Qaeda affiliate Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimeen (JNIM), in the Sahel.<\/p>\n

It has grown in importance due to a lack of Western security partners in the region.<\/p>\n

Military juntas have come to power through coups in Mali and Burkina Faso – both neighbors of Niger – in recent years. More than 2,000 French troops left Mali last year and a 13,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping force is due to shut down by the end of the year after the junta abruptly asked it to leave.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Reuters provides additional information here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The United States announced that it has repositioned some troops and equipment in Niger and that it plans to pull a small number of non-essential personnel out. Prior to the coup, the U.S. military was training Niger’s forces on how to conduct counter-terrorism actions. The U.S. military also used drones against terrorist organizations working in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":661,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[387,84],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-147063","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-international-affairs","category-military-issues"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4ozh1-CfZ","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/valorguardians.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147063","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/valorguardians.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/valorguardians.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/valorguardians.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/661"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/valorguardians.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=147063"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/valorguardians.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147063\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/valorguardians.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=147063"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/valorguardians.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=147063"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/valorguardians.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=147063"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}