By Abiola Olawale
The United States military has begun withdrawing the majority of the approximately 200 service members deployed to Nigeria earlier this year.
US Africa Command (AFRICOM) and defense officials confirmed that the drawdown marks the wrap-up of a specialized deployment focused on intelligence sharing, reconnaissance, and specialized training to combat the Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP) and other regional extremist networks.
The temporary deployment, initiated earlier this year, saw US forces work alongside Nigerian military personnel to execute high-stakes operations, including a coordinated series of raids and airstrikes in the country’s northeast that degraded local ISIS leadership.
Speaking on the drawdown, General Dagvin R.M. Anderson noted that the joint efforts achieved their primary objectives.
”That operation in the Lake Chad Basin of Nigeria not only helped the countries in that immediate region; it also helps countries globally as it disrupts the ISIS network,” Anderson stated.
“We have withdrawn much of our forces that were just there for that operation, but are continuing the partnership that Nigeria has asked for.”
Recall also that last month, Anderson announced that the US had pulled back many of its troops in Nigeria following the May operation that killed Abu-Bilal al-Minuki, the second-in-command of ISIS, in the Lake Chad Basin.
Anderson said the operation significantly degraded ISIS’ leadership in Nigeria and globally.
He added that Nigeria had been “very active” since the May operation, working to eliminate terrorists’ self-sufficiency.
The AFRICOM chief noted that the US would retain its intelligence partnership with Nigeria.
The development comes weeks after the US and Nigeria held their second round of talks in Washington under a joint working group focused on protecting Christian communities in Nigeria’s Middle Belt.
The working group was formed in response to President Donald Trump’s designation of Nigeria as a country of particular concern (CPC) over allegations of Christian genocide. Those allegations prompted US military interventions in the country.
However, insecurity has continued to surge.
Nigeria has rejected the position that the violence in the country has a single cause and has insisted that the crisis is multifaceted.
Ladd Serwat, Africa senior analyst at ACLED, had told TheCable that the activities of Islamist militant groups “constitute only a small proportion of the overall violence” in Nigeria.
Security threats in the country comprise terrorism spilling over from neighbouring Sahelian states; banditry in the north-west; Islamist militants such as ISWAP, ISIS, and Boko Haram; pastoralist and farmer clashes; and cult groups and militia.
Serwat described the mix as “a very complicated security situation”.
