Why are the United States fighting in Niger

In October of this year, an attack on the West African state, Niger [should not mix with the state of Nigeria] left four senior American officers and 13 Niger fighters dead. This ambush was widely reported by news organizations and by the United States, but soon turned into a media rush after President Donald Trump responded with considerable intensity to the remaining widows following that attack.

After that, the attention of most media focused on the way the president handled the tragedy.

But what remained out of focus was why American troops are in that country.

In 2002, just months after the 11 September terrorist attacks, last President Bush's administration undertook a non-recognised anti-terrorism programme called the “Initiative Pan Sahel”. This programme was designed to deal with the armies of African countries, including Nigeria, Mali, Chad and Mauritania, assisting and giving advice to fight terrorist groups in that region.

The United States viewed the big deserts and illegal regions in these countries as areas where terrorist groups could thrive, potentially using these countries as grounds to launch terrorist attacks against them.

These worries didn't go away too.

In West Africa, poor levels, along with weak government institutions and failed states, established the current conditions for creating safe terrorist shelters. Despite the presence of the United States and France there, terrorist groups began to flourish, especially Al Qaeda's membership in that region, known as AQIM or Al Qaeda in Islamic Maghrebi.

While these groups posed a threat to regional powers and Western interests there, experts predicted that groups could not attack the US or Europe from West Africa. However, the United States still viewed them as dangerous, and even there they expanded their military presence

In 2005, the United States established a unified military command for the entire continent, referred to as AFRICOM, which is responsible for all American military involvement in 53 different African states.

And as America's military presence in Africa increased dramatically under President Bush, such a thing happened during Barack Obama's presidency.

A conflict occurred in Mali in 2012, when a rebel group managed to bring the whole north under control but then lost control by a number of Islamic groups who wanted to establish their version of Islamic law throughout the country.

A number of African states and France sent troops there to fight against rebel groups in the early stages of the conflict. But in 2013, the United States was also involved when President Obama sent about 100 troops to the neighbouring state of Niger to assist French troops in the war.

This was just an initial step of increased partnership between the United States and Nigeria. In 2016, the United States announced its plan to build a $100 million base in the middle of Nigeria so that it could fight military groups and protect its borders from them.

Today, more than 800 American troops are in Niger, and more than 6 thousand are found throughout the African continent.

And while coverage of the conflicts and political crises in Africa has become ever smaller, some experts say the continent will become America's new front against terror.

With Boko Haram in Nigeria (which is said to be more terrorist than I SIS, Al Qaeda groups in Western Africa, and I SIS in Libya, and even with the Democratic Republic of Congo, American military presence on this continent, it seems only to increase.

So the question is no longer whether America will operate militarily in Africa, but if it will not operate in the shadows as it has done so far. Now this world Periscope