Nigeria has confirmed that around 200 US troops deployed to support its fight against armed groups will begin leaving the West African country, with most expected to withdraw by late September.
A smaller advisory and intelligence team will remain, while cooperation in training and information sharing will continue, Nigerian military spokesperson Major General Samaila Uba said on Tuesday. “The deployment of United States personnel was tied to specific operational and counterterrorism objectives,” Uba said, according to AP.
The troops arrived in February to provide intelligence, targeting, and training support. Washington subsequently deployed MQ-9 Reaper surveillance drones to Bauchi Airfield in northeastern Nigeria. The mission came after US President Donald Trump accused the Nigerian authorities of failing to protect Christians and threatened military action.
Nigeria rejected claims that Christians were being systematically targeted, saying jihadist violence, banditry, and communal conflicts affect citizens of different faiths.
The two countries conducted coordinated airstrikes against alleged Islamic State fighters in Sokoto State in December 2025. In May, Nigeria’s Defense Headquarters and US Africa Command said a joint operation in the Lake Chad Basin killed senior Islamic State figure Abu-Bilal al-Minuki. Trump described him as the group’s second-highest-ranking leader globally.
US Africa Command chief General Dagvin Anderson announced in July that most of the American troops had been withdrawn, saying the campaign had successfully degraded Islamic State’s leadership and disrupted its wider network. Samuel Memeh, chairman of Nigeria’s Democratic Leadership Alliance, disputed that assessment. Memeh told RT that the deployment had produced no significant improvement in security and argued that foreign forces alone could not defeat the country’s armed groups.
Nigeria continues to face overlapping threats from Boko Haram and its Islamic State-affiliated offshoot in the northeast, armed bandits operating across the northwest and central regions, and intercommunal violence. More than 40,000 people have been killed since the insurgency began in 2009, UN News reported in January.
Major attacks continued during the US deployment. On August 21, gunmen attacked several communities in Niger State, reportedly killing 30 people and abducting hundreds of worshippers from a mosque. Residents put the number of captives as high as 600, although the authorities said the figure had not been verified. At least 2,000 people reportedly fled into neighboring Benin.
Lagos-based security consultancy SBM Intelligence said in a report last month that at least 7,825 people were abducted across Africa’s most populous nation between July 2025 and June 2026, a 66% increase from the previous 12-month period.