Last Saturday the Washington Post claimed that the U.S. had agreed to move its troops out of Sudan:
U.S. agrees to withdraw American troops from Niger
Other media made similar claims:
US troops set to withdraw from Niger, State Department official says – CNN
US plans to withdraw forces from Niger – The Hill
I found those claims to be wrong:
The U.S. drone base in Niger is used by the Pentagon and CIA to keep control of ISIS in the region.
So are U.S. troops really leaving Niger?
Of course not – at least not yet.
The next paragraph reveals what was really agreed upon. It makes it obvious that the U.S. wants to delay the issue as long as possible:
“We’ve agreed to begin conversations within days about how to develop a plan” to withdraw troops, said the senior State Department official. “They’ve agreed that we do it in an orderly and responsible way. And we will need to probably dispatch folks to Niamey to sit down and hash it out. And that of course will be a Defense Department project.”
– "We have agreed to begin conservations" – (we didn't really agree to pull out troops, just to talks)
– "about how to develop a plan" – (should we write a plan for something-something in Excel or Word?)
– "in an orderly and responsible way" – (we see absolutely no time pressure or deadline)
– "need to probably dispatch folks to Niamey" – (there will be many delays and the team will change often)
– "that of course will be a Defense Department project" – (We, the State Department, will hardly be involved. When the shit hits the fan the Pentagon will be to blame for it.)
The attempt by the State Department to kick the ball into the Pentagon's yard led to the inevitable result. Not ever in recent memory did the Pentagon leave a U.S. base in a foreign country without a significant threat against it. It is thus slow walking to implement the State Department decision by rejecting its pronounced claim:
No final decision on withdrawing US troops from Niger and Chad, top official tells AP
There has been no final decision on whether or not all U.S. troops will leave Niger and Chad, two African countries that are integral to the military’s efforts to counter violent extremist organizations across the Sahel region, a top U.S. military official told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
Niger’s ruling junta ended an agreement last month that allows U.S. troops to operate in the West African country. The State Department said Wednesday night that U.S. and Nigerien officials would meet Thursday in the capital, Niamey, “to initiate discussions on an orderly and responsible withdrawal of U.S. forces.”
…
While U.S. officials said Saturday that the military would begin plans to withdraw troops from Niger, they said discussions on a new military agreement were ongoing.“There’s still negotiations underway,” Grady said. “I don’t believe there is a final decision on disposition of U.S. forces there.”
Told ya so!
I predict that the Pentagon will not move one inch without outright sabotage and/or effective attacks against its troops in Niger.
It will however attempt to bribe whoever may be receptacle if that can turn the decision.
But the current government of Niger is not stupid. It was quite predictable how the U.S. would react when Niger ended the agreement.
The time for western (proxy) colonial states in Africa and elsewhere has come to an end. China and Russia offer reasonable alternatives and better deals.
Six months from now the time of U.S. troops in Niger (and Chad) will likely have ended.