West African Leaders Warn it Would Be a ‘Mistake’ to Cut Back U.S. Troops
West African Leaders Warn it Would Be a ‘Mistake’ to Cut Back U.S. Troops in Africa by Diana Stancy Correll – Military Times
West African leaders aren’t on board with the possibility of U.S. troops vacating the region, according to a new report.
U.S. Africa Command says that there are approximately 6,000 Department of Defense personnel in Africa, but those numbers could go down following a review the Pentagon is executing to reexamine U.S. troop presence in multiple areas of operations.
“If one actor leaves the chain, it weakens the whole group,” Togolese President Faure Gnassingbé said, according to the Washington Post.
Gnassingbé warned that militants from Iraq and Syria are filtering into Africa via Libya, and predicted they would gain power on the African continent, the Post reports…