For more than a decade, the U.S. had a significant counterterrorism partnership with Niger, with nearly 1,000 American troops stationed at two airbases: one near the capital in the populated south of the country, and another, on the southern fringe of the Sahara Desert, used largely as a base for American drones.
That partnership came to a sudden end this past March 16, when a spokesperson for the country’s ruling junta took to national television to announce that the government was unceremoniously kicking the U.S. military out.
“The government of Niger, taking into account the aspirations and interests of its people, revokes, with immediate effect, the agreement concerning the status of United States military personnel and civilian Defense Department employees,” Col. Maj. Amadou Abdramane said, declaring that the security pact, in effect since 2012, violated Niger’s constitution.
Just days after that announcement, a top Pentagon official went in front of the House Armed Services Committee and misled both Congress and the American people about what was happening, according to a letter sent today to the Pentagon and State Department by Reps. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., and Jimmy Panetta, D-Calif., and shared exclusively with The Intercept.
“We write to express concern about the Department of Defense (DoD) and the Department of State’s (DoS) internal communication and subsequent relay of inaccurate information to Congress regarding the drawdown of 1,000 U.S. troops from Niger,” reads the letter which was sent to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday.
The “inaccurate information” in question has to do with when, and how, the Pentagon was informed that Niger was booting........