The United States has pulled most of its troops from a joint counterterrorism mission in Nigeria’s Lake Chad Basin.
General Dagvin R.M. Anderson, who leads the US Air Forces in Europe and Africa, announced this at a press briefing after the African Chiefs of Defence Conference 2026.
In February, the US deployed around 200 military personnel to Nigeria to support intelligence, surveillance, and counterterrorism efforts in the Lake Chad Basin.
Anderson said the mission is now over and most of the American troops have returned to Washington, D.C.
However, he said the US will keep working with Nigeria on security, especially by sharing intelligence.
“And so that operation in the Lake Chad Basin of Nigeria not only helped the countries in that immediate region, but it also helps countries globally as that disrupts the ISIS network.
“And so, and then we have withdrawn much of our forces that were just there for that operation, but are continuing the partnership that Nigeria has asked for to help continue with the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 and the understanding that’s necessary to be able to prosecute these difficult tasks,” he said.
The US general called Nigeria a capable partner, highlighting its strong military, large economy, and well-educated population.
He said that intelligence cooperation between the two countries has led to important results in fighting ISIS and other terrorist groups.
“I think the partnership we’ve shown recently with Nigeria, which is a very capable and large country with a strong economy, a large, educated population, and a very capable military,” Anderson said.
He explained that US counterterrorism experience helped improve Nigeria’s intelligence operations and played a role in targeting a senior ISIS leader.
“But there are things that we have learned in the counterterrorist fight over several years that we were able to assist and integrate with them to help them with their intelligence and help with the intelligence sharing that eventually led to a cooperative effort to where we were able to bring some unique capabilities that the U.S. brings and be able to prosecute together the number two leader within the ISIS or Daesh organization who is responsible for much of their global operations, their global media, and their recruiting,” he added.
