The United States is preparing to pull roughly 200 troops out of Nigeria, with the bulk of the contingent set to depart by late September, ending a counterterrorism deployment that officials say achieved outsized results relative to its size.
The personnel had been stationed in northeastern Nigeria since February, supporting local forces through intelligence sharing, training and joint operations against Islamist militant groups.
American and Nigerian officials said the mission delivered significant gains, notably a May operation that killed Abu-Bilal al-Minuki, identified by US officials as the second-in-command of Islamic State’s Lake Chad Basin affiliate. Gen. Dagvin Anderson, commander of US Africa Command, said last month that the strike had substantially weakened the group’s leadership.
Despite the drawdown, Washington intends to maintain an intelligence-sharing partnership with Abuja, and smaller teams of trainers and analysts are expected to remain after the main force leaves.
The withdrawal follows a period of closer security cooperation between the two countries. President Trump and Nigerian President Bola Tinubu exchanged letters in July affirming their partnership, and a senior Nigerian military delegation visited Washington on August 13 for talks with US counterparts.
The troop deployment traces back to Trump’s designation of Nigeria as a “country of particular concern” over attacks on Christian communities, though Nigerian officials have pushed back on characterizing the country’s violence — which also includes banditry, jihadist insurgency and communal clashes — as driven by a single cause.
Violence has continued despite the counterterrorism gains: gunmen recently killed more than two dozen people, including an imam, in northwestern Nigeria, while a separate attack on a village in central Nigeria killed at least 25 people. Militants also struck a military base in the northeast in the days before the withdrawal was announced.
Security analysts have cautioned that the pullout could allow militant groups to rebuild if Nigerian forces are unable to sustain the intelligence capabilities built up during the deployment.
