On February 10, the Pentagon announced it would send 200 troops to Nigeria to train local forces to counter jihadists, joining a small detachment already on the ground to support the Nigerian army’s intelligence operations. Those measures followed President Trump’s decision to order an air strike on Christmas Day 2025 against a local group named Lakurawa in northwestern Nigeria after repeatedly condemning Abuja’s inaction in the face of a “Christian genocide.”
Washington has emphasized that it would not participate in Nigeria’s military operations or seek permanent bases in West Africa. Yet those troop deployments could lead to a dangerous entanglement.
Such dynamics may already be in play. Washington’s African military command (AFRICOM) is using the Nigerian crisis to offset its 2024 expulsion from Niger (its former intelligence hub in the Sahel) and the Trump administration’s stated disinterest in “long-term… presence or commitments” on the continent.
The U.S. government itself may retain strategic interest in Nigeria, which possesses critical minerals that could help Washington compete with China, accounts for 20% of sub-Saharan Africa’s economy, and is projected to reach 400 million people by 2050.
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