Six months after the deaths of U.S. soldiers in Niger led to questions about the military’s presence in the West African nation, the U.S. special operations command in Africa on Wednesday opened its annual Flintlock exercise there.
The 10 days of counterterrorism training for special forces is designed to strengthen the ability of nations in the Sahel region to combat the growing threat from multiple extremist groups. Regional threats include al-Qaida-linked fighters in Mali and Burkina Faso, Islamic State-affiliated fighters in Niger and Nigeria and the Nigeria-based Boko Haram.
About 1,900 service members from 20 African and western nations are participating in the Flintlock exercise.
The vast Sahel region’s large number of ungoverned spaces and widespread poverty pose challenges to counterterror efforts.
“Not one week goes by without our population, our defense and security forces, in all of our countries being touched by some sort of terrorist or armed attack,” Niger’s Minister of Defense Kalla Moutari said at the opening ceremony. “No one country can face all these complex challenges alone.”
Little was known about U.S. involvement in Niger before the deaths in October of four U.S. and four Niger soldiers in an extremist ambush. American politicians demanded to know more about the U.S. role in Africa.
In Niger, the number of U.S. military personnel has grown from 100 to 800 in the past five years, and the U.S. is building a drone base in the country’s north.
This year’s exercise is the third year to involve civilian law enforcement agencies, with the State Department’s Antiterrorism Assistance Program this year training personnel to detect, investigate and prosecute extremists.
