US to withdraw military personnel from Niger, source says
The United States will withdraw its troops from Niger, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters late on Friday, adding an agreement was reached between U.S Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and Niger's leadership, Azernews reports.
There were a little over 1,000 U.S. troops in Niger as of last year, where the U.S. military operated out of two bases, including a drone base known as Air Base 201 built near Agadez in central Niger at a cost of more than $100 million.
Since 2018, the base has been used to target Islamic State militants and Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimeen, an al Qaeda affiliate, in the Sahel region.
Last year, Niger's army seized power in a coup. Until the coup, Niger had remained a key security partner of the United States and France.
In the coming days, there will be conversations about how that drawdown of troops will look, the source told Reuters, asking not to identified.
The source said there would still be diplomatic and economic relationships between the U.S. and Niger despite this step.
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