NIGER
I have another foolish question?
So what’s new?
If
we are in this country to help train the Niger army to fight ISIS,
be out on patrol
without a single
Niger Army personal?
without a single
Niger Army personal?
but the vast majority of them are construction crews
working to
build up a second drone base in Niger’s northern desert.
The rest
run a surveillance drone mission from Niger’s capital of Niamey
that helps out the French in Mali and other regional countries in the
fight against Al Qaeda, Boko Haram and now ISIS.
A smaller component, less than a hundred, are Army Green Beret units
advising and assisting Niger’s military to build up their fighting
capability
to counter Al Qaeda and
ISIS.
Wondering
why there are Army Green Berets in Niger?
They
are there as part of a counter-terrorism mission to train Niger’s
military to help fight Islamic extremists in neighboring countries,
namely Mali.
When
did US forces arrive in Niger?
They
arrived in early 2013 to help the French military that had intervened
in neighboring Mali the year before. The French had moved into Mali
after an Al
Qaeda affiliated
group and tribal groups took over the vast northern part of the
country and were moving toward the capital of Mali. As part of the
U.S. effort to assist that mission then-President Barack Obama
ordered 150 U.S. military personnel to set up a surveillance drone
operation over Mali that would fly from Niger's capital of Niamey.