Biden administration to rethink counter-terrorism strategy after breakdown of pact allowing US forces on soil to fight jihadists

The US will withdraw more than 1,000 military personnel from Niger in a move that will force the Biden administration to rethink its counter-terrorism strategy and amounts to a strategic victory for Russia.

The decision comes a month after the west African country’s ruling military junta revoked a security pact with Washington that had allowed American forces on its soil to help fight jihadist terrorism.

US officials had voiced hopes that behind-the-scenes talks could salvage the 12-year-old agreement, which was thrown into jeopardy on 15 March when a junta spokesperson publicly declared the continued US military presence in Niger “illegal”.

But the US finally admitted defeat after meetings in Washington this week between Kurt Campbell, the deputy secretary of state, and Niger’s prime minister, Ali Lamine Zeine.

  • @ShittyBeatlesFCPres@lemmy.worldEnglish
    5•3 months ago

    The main part of this that concerns me is that Mali, next door, has significant uranium mines (owned by the French, basically, due to colonialism, which isn’t necessarily justified, but it’s also for non-proliferation reasons). I don’t think France will just let Russia fuck around in Mali and that could cause a real escalation.