The U.S. military was forced out of its sprawling base in Niger’s northern desert this week in what is yet another foreign policy disaster for the Biden-Harris administration.
The U.S. has been trying for months to get the country turned around after its military overthrew its democratically elected government last year.
The withdrawal upends U.S. counterterrorism efforts and security policy in the politically unstable Sahel region of Africa, which stretches across the northern central part of the continent and includes Senegal, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Sudan, and Eritrea.
The region is one of the most dangerous in the world and is a hotbed for multiple major Islamic terrorist groups — including ISIS, Al-Qaeda, and more — and the threat is growing, as is Russia’s influence and footprint in the region.
“The security of the region is a grave concern,” Air Force Major Gen. Kenneth Ekman, who is leading the U.S. withdrawal from Niger, told The Washington Post. “The threat has become worse — it has spread and become more acute. … And from a U.S. perspective, our access has been reduced even though our objectives have not changed.”
The U.S. reportedly was able to remove a lot of its equipment from the base, including drones used by special forces to target terrorists, generators, and other sensitive equipment. However, the Biden-Harris administration reportedly left behind “dozens of vehicles.”
Multiple security experts who spoke to the newspaper said that the Biden-Harris administration capitulating the region to hostile forces was a national security disaster that could destabilize the entire region.
Daniel Eizenga, a researcher focused on the Sahel at the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, said that the terrorist attacks have rapidly increased along Africa’s coastal countries.
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“It’s like a five-alarm fire for coastal West Africa, with all the red lights flashing,” Eizenga said. “The security threat has arrived.”
The situation in Niger is part of a pattern in the region where countries are breaking ties with Western nations and forming alliances with Russia, whose criminal paramilitary forces have been increasing their footprint in recent years.
Russia is now providing the country with military resources and personnel, and the highly impoverished country is considering giving “Iran a possible deal on its uranium reserves.” The country has also strengthened economic ties with China in recent years, and with Biden being forced out of the country, China could again increase its footprint.
