"No boots on the ground." The strategy implemented since the Obama administration of lightening the footprint of US military presence in conflict zones is reluctantly nearing its completion point in the Sahel. On Friday, April 19, several US officials announced on condition of anonymity that Washington had agreed to a request from Niger, which has been under military rule since July 2023, to withdraw its 1,100 troops from the country, deployed mainly at the Agadez air base.

The decision confirms the loss of a strategic foothold for conducting intelligence operations on armed groups in Libya and throughout the Sahel region, at a time when Russia is increasing its influence in the country, as well as among its neighbors.

This followed a meeting between US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and Nigerien Prime Minister Ali Mahamane Lamine Zeine, who was visiting the United States to meet officials from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), with a view to resuming disbursements, suspended since the putsch.

Four months after the forced departure of French soldiers from Niger, the announcement of the withdrawal of American troops confirms the failure of Washington's diplomatic strategy. Since the putsch that toppled President Mohamed Bazoum, the US has tried to negotiate a continued presence with the putschist regime of General Abdourahamane Tiani, who, like his Malian and Burkinabè peers, was attracted by the sirens of Moscow.

Ultimately, in vain. On March 16, the Nigerien government denounced the defense agreements signed in 2012 that governed America's military presence in the country. According to corroborating sources, the US tried to make the resumption of their security cooperation – suspended in the wake of the coup – conditional on obtaining guarantees from the junta regarding the terms of partnerships recently concluded with Russia and Iran, two other countries whose influences have continued to grow since the coup.

On April 10, a hundred or so instructors from Africa Corps, the new label for Russia's paramilitary presence in the Sahel, landed in Niamey. Their official mission was to train Niger's army, particularly in the use of a Russian-supplied anti-aircraft defense system. Three months earlier, Niger's PM had flown to Tehran to outline plans for closer cooperation with Iran, without providing any details of the nature of the envisioned contracts. This was a clear cause for concern for Western countries, particularly the US.

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