The United States has withdrawn most of the troops it deployed for a recent operation against Islamic State militants in Nigeria, while continuing to provide intelligence support at Abuja’s request, the head of U.S. Africa Command said.
AFRICOM Commander General Dagvin Anderson said U.S. and Nigerian forces carried out joint operations in northeastern Nigeria in May that killed Abu-Bilal al-Minuki, described as the second-in-command of ISIS globally.
The operation followed a U.S. strike on Christmas Day ordered by President Donald Trump, who said the militants had been targeting Christians in Nigeria.
Speaking after a conference of African defence chiefs in Angola on Thursday, Anderson said the May operation in the Lake Chad Basin showed how Washington aims to support African partners with specialised capabilities while allowing them to lead security operations.
“We have withdrawn much of our forces that were just there for that operation, but are continuing the partnership that Nigeria has asked for to help continue with the intelligence sharing,” Anderson told journalists during a U.S. State Department-hosted briefing.
Anderson described the operation as a model for future U.S. security cooperation in Africa. He said the partnership with Nigeria had significantly weakened Islamic State’s leadership and disrupted the group’s communications and wider operations beyond West Africa.
“Nigeria has been very active since that operation in May,” Anderson said. “They continue to prosecute targets themselves.”
He added that Nigerian military pressure, combined with publicity around the operation, had encouraged further defections and surrenders among ISIS fighters in northeastern Nigeria.
The three-day conference in Luanda brought together military leaders from 35 African countries, along with representatives from the United States and Brazil.