American troops are preparing to pull out of Chad and Niger in a move that risks ceding more influence to Russia.
The withdrawals follow demands by the military rulers of the neighbouring countries to re-examine the terms of the US military’s presence to give them a better deal, in a blow to US counterterrorism operations.
This week Chad questioned the validity of an agreement covering a US military presence in its borders.
Washington has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in building bases in Niger and training its military since beginning operations there in 2013. At one point, more than a thousand troops were stationed there. But tensions were strained by a coup last year that robbed the West of its most important ally in
