US Withdraws Some Troops From Nigeria After Counterterrorism Mission

The United States has withdrawn much of the team it deployed to support a recent counterterrorism operation in Nigeria, but says intelligence sharing and other security cooperation with Abuja will continue.

AFRICOM Commander Dagvin Anderson disclosed the withdrawal during a virtual briefing after the 2026 African Chiefs of Defence Conference in Luanda, Angola. He did not state how many personnel had left Nigeria or where they had been stationed.

The deployment began in early February after an agreement between Nigeria and the US. Defence officials initially described the team as support for military education, intelligence sharing, logistics and strategic dialogue, not a force for direct combat.

Premium Times reported that about 200 US troops were later deployed to north-east Nigeria. The report said the troops subsequently joined Nigerian soldiers in an operation that killed an ISWAP commander and other fighters, with the work believed to have centred on Borno State.

Anderson said most of the forces sent for that operation had been withdrawn, while the partnership requested by Nigeria would continue around intelligence and security cooperation.

Source: Premium Times