U.S. troops to leave Chad, as second African state reassesses its military ties

— Dozens of American military personnel are expected to withdraw from Chad in coming days, three senior U.S. officials said Thursday, amid a broader, involuntary reconfiguration of Washington’s security policy in a volatile part of Africa.

The officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss military movements, said the repositioning could be temporary as the United States intends to negotiate with Chad about their security relationship — including potentially returning the troops who departed — following the country’s presidential elections May 6.

It marks the second time in a week the Biden administration has acknowledged it will comply with a host-nation directive to remove deployed forces from an African country deemed integral to U.S. counterterrorism operations in the region. On Friday, officials said the United States had agreed to pull out more than 1,000 military personnel from neighboring Niger.

The shake-up in Chad affects fewer than 100 Army Special Forces soldiers who are stationed at the French base in N’Djamena, the capital. They had been on a six-month rotation that is ending, according to one of the U.S. officials. A small number of U.S. service personnel working with a regional joint task force focused on Lake Chad — where the extremist group Boko Haram and its affiliates are active — will remain in the country, this person said.

The official emphasized that unlike in Niger, Chad’s government has not canceled the “status of forces” agreement that governed its military relationship with the United States. Rather, the Special Forces troops’ departure, first reported by the New York Times, follows an apparent disagreement between U.S. officials and a Chadian general, who contended that Washington had failed to produce documents justifying its military presence in N’Djamena and asked the Americans to “immediately stop” their activity at the base.

Those concerns, raised by Idriss Amine Ahmed, a top general in Chad’s air force, were relayed by letter, not through traditional diplomatic channels, according to two U.S. officials. CNN first reported on his letter last week. There was confusion, too, about its intent, with some officials saying the Chadians appeared to want more from the United States in terms of the partnership and others saying Chad’s desires were unclear.

A spokesman for the Chadian government did not respond to requests for comment.

Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary, said Thursday during a news conference that while talks with Chad continue, commanders are “planning to reposition some U.S. military forces.”

He characterized the shift as “a temporary step.”

“They are asking Western partners the question of, ‘What is in it for us?’” one Western official said of the Chadians. “And it’s not such a bad thing for the West to be considering the same thing.”