An American serviceman filed a whistleblower report, alleging that Joe Biden is placing American troops in harm’s way by refusing to withdraw from the African nation of Niger. Niger has undergone a seismic change in political leadership, as there was a military coup in 2023. Last month, the new government said that American military presence was illegal and vowed to end all agreements effective immediately. US forces had been conducting counter-terror operations in the region, including drone operations.
The Washington Post obtained a copy of the complaint, in which the Biden State and Defense Department rejected the negligence claims but did not admit that a new agreement could be hashed out with the military government. So, in a way, yes, American troops could be in harm’s way since we know how Biden dithers on everything:
The airman, in a private whistleblower complaint to Congress obtained by The Washington Post, accused top officials at the U.S. Embassy in Niger’s capital of Niamey of having “intentionally suppressed intelligence” as they seek to maintain the “facade of a great country-to-country relationship.” The embassy’s actions, the whistleblower wrote, have “potential implications” for U.S. relations with other African nations “and the safety of our personnel in the region.”
The State Department and Defense Department rejected the claims of negligence, saying the United States is making a final push to maintain a U.S. military presence in post-coup Niger, though they acknowledge that talks are difficult and may fail to produce an agreement.
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“There’s a very narrow path here to finding an accommodation that addresses their interests and concerns and our interests and concerns,” said a senior State Department official, who like some others spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the Biden administration’s diplomatic efforts. “It may not work, but the fat lady hasn’t sung yet.”
The whistleblower’s allegations highlight the difficulties for the United States in operating in a region of Africa that is increasingly unstable. In 2017, four American soldiers were killed after being ambushed on a mission in Niger, which military investigators blamed on poor training, planning and other institutional failures.
For years, the Pentagon has deployed a mix of mostly Air Force and Army personnel to Niger to support a mission scrutinizing militant groups in the region. Until the coup, the arrangement included drones flying in counterterrorism operations from a base the United States built and U.S. and Nigerien troops partnering on some patrols.
The Trump-Niger incident, where four green berets were killed in an ambush, is notable since the media tried to make that into the former president’s Benghazi, when it clearly wasn’t. MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow insinuated that the attack was in response to Trump’s executive order on immigration, aka the Muslim ban. It was an episode of nutty conspiracy theory nonsense that hasn’t changed much. And yes, even The Washington Post torched the MSNBC host for peddling this piece of fear-mongering trash.