For over a decade, nearly 1,000 U.S. troops were stationed in Niger as part of a counterterrorism partnership. This abruptly ended on March 16, when Niger’s ruling junta expelled the U.S. military, claiming the agreement violated their constitution. Days later, a Pentagon official misled Congress about the situation, prompting an investigation by Reps. Matt Gaetz and Jimmy Panetta. Despite significant U.S. investment in Niger, including millions in aid and military bases, the relationship deteriorated amid rising violence and coups involving U.S.-trained officers. Now, with tensions high, U.S. lawmakers are demanding answers about the Pentagon’s handling of the withdrawal.

Nearly 1,000 American troops were stationed at two airbases in Niger—one near the capital in the populous south of the country, and the other on the southern edge of the Sahara Desert, which was primarily used as a base for American drones—during the country’s more than ten-year counterterrorism partnership.

This past March 16, a representative for the nation’s junta abruptly ended the cooperation by announcing on national television that the government was throwing the U.S. troops out without cause reports the Intercept.

Col. Maj. Amadou Abdramane declared that the security agreement, which had been in place since 2012, violated Niger’s constitution and that “the government of Niger, taking into account the aspirations and interests of its people, revokes, with immediate effect, the agreement concerning the status of United States military personnel and civilian Defense Department employees.”

Representatives Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., and Jimmy Panetta, D-Calif., sent a letter to the Pentagon and State Department today that was shared exclusively with The Intercept. The letter claims that just days after that announcement, a top Pentagon official appeared before the House Armed Services Committee and misled Congress and the American people about what was happening.

The letter, addressed to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Wednesday, states, “We write to express concern about the Department of Defense (DoD) and the Department of State (DoS) internal communication and subsequent relay of inaccurate information to Congress regarding the drawdown of 1,000 U.S. troops from Niger.”

The disputed “inaccurate information” relates to how and when the Pentagon was notified that Niger was expelling American forces from its territory.

In an appearance before the House Armed Services Committee on March 21, Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs Celeste Wallander informed Panetta that the ruling junta in Niger “has not asked or demanded” that the American forces withdraw from the country. The head of U.S. Africa Command, Gen. Michael Langley, stated to The Intercept that the country was still working to “obtain clarification through diplomatic channels… regarding the Status of Forces Agreement between Niger and the United States” nearly a month later.

However, a letter from the State Department to Gaetz in response to a formal request for information was also shared with The Intercept. It stated that the junta had sent a diplomatic note on March 19, which immediately terminated the Status of Forces Agreement governing U.S. troops in Niger and the Pentagon’s use of military facilities there.

“Given the date DoS provided according to the department’s records … and that Dr. Wallander’s testimony took place days after the information was received by DoS, we have reason to believe that Dr. Wallander misrepresented the situation in Niger,” wrote Gaetz and Panetta.

Regarding its correspondence with the junta in Niger, the State Department declined to offer clarification. The Department of State informed The Intercept, “We do not comment on details of diplomatic correspondences.”

Defense Department spokesperson Lt. Col. Bryon J. McGarry reviewed emails from The Intercept but did not respond, according to a return receipt.

Approximately one thousand American military soldiers and civilian contractors were stationed in Niger before their expulsion from the Sahelian nation; the majority of them were gathered at an air facility close to Agadez. The outpost, officially known as Air Base 201 but referred to locally as “Base Americaine,” was a crucial component of American security and surveillance operations throughout the region and acted as the hub of the U.S. military’s network of facilities in North and West Africa. The United States has invested about a quarter of a billion dollars in the outpost throughout the 2010s. This comes on top of the more than $500 million in military assistance that Niger has received since 2012.

Early in July, the US military evacuated its soldiers from Niger’s Air Base 101, which is close to the airport in the country’s capital, Niamey. Niger’s defense ministry and the Pentagon stated in a joint statement that “the effective cooperation and communication between the U.S. and Nigerien armed forces ensured that this turnover was finished ahead of schedule.” It is anticipated that Air Base 201 will be evacuated in August.

A State Department official told The Intercept, “The United States is proud of the past security cooperation between U.S. forces and Nigerien forces, a partnership which effectively contributed to stability in Niger and the region.”However, data provided by the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, a research institute of the Defense Department, indicates that during the period of that collaboration, terrorist attacks in West Africa escalated. For instance, since 2016, the number of people killed in attacks by extremist Islamist groups in the Sahel has increased by more than 5,200%.

At least 15 officers who received security aid from the United States have participated in 12 coups in West Africa and the larger Sahel throughout the war on terror, including one in Niger last year, as violence has escalated. According to a U.S. official, at least five leaders of the coup in July 2023 benefited from American aid.

The United States avoided using the word “coup” for months after its allies overthrew Mohamed Bazoum, the democratically elected president of Niger, until finally, as required by law, it withheld about $200 million in aid.

After the junta publicly broke with the US in April, a report from Gaetz’s office detailed how US troops in Niger were unable to get mail, medicine, or other supplies. At the time, Gaetz told The Intercept, “The Biden Administration and the State Department are engaged in a massive cover-up.” “They are effectively leaving our troops in Niger with no sign of assistance and concealing the actual state of U.S. diplomatic relations there.” The claims were denied by the Pentagon.

To carry out their “oversight measures concerning Dr. Wallander’s testimony,” Gaetz and Panetta demanded that Austin and Blinken furnish information regarding correspondence between the junta and the United States as well as copies of pertinent correspondence. Only a few days before the junta’s September 15 deadline for the withdrawal of all American forces from Niger, the lawmakers granted the departments until early September to provide the material.

Previously, GreatGameInternational reported that Colonel Major Amadou Abdramane, a spokesman for the Nigerien junta, said in a statement that Niger will cut off U.S. military ties amidst rising concerns about a uranium deal with Iran.