Earlier this month, the government of Niger revoked its military cooperation agreement with the United States and demanded the withdrawal of approximately 1,000 U.S. military personnel from the West African nation. Washington is currently negotiating with the Nigerien junta, which came to power in a July coup, to keep a contingent of troops in place, perhaps at a lower level.
That is a bad idea, however, on the part of the Biden administration. Instead of trying to stay, the United States needs to take this opportunity to do what Niamey asked it do: i.e., leave. U.S. interests in Niger are marginal at best and the costs of the U.S. troop presence are growing under the current regime. By revoking military cooperation with Washington, Niger just gave the United States a glidepath to properly rebalance policy commitments in West Africa. The Biden administration needs to take advantage of that, which starts by moving forces out of Niger.
Author
William
Walldorf
Senior Fellow
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