Nigeria offers clues to new US Africa strategy

The US has withdrawn most troops from a joint counterterrorism operation in northeastern Nigeria after a successful mission against Islamic State affiliates, reframing its Africa strategy toward intelligence-sharing and training support for African-led operations rather than sustained large deployments. US Africa Command describes this as a model for future security partnerships across the continent amid broader US retrenchment and rising Russian-Chinese influence. The US military has found a repeatable model in Nigeria: strike once, then hand sustained operations to local forces backed by US intelligence and training. If you're a defence contractor, logistics firm, or intelligence platform serving African militaries, you've just moved from competing for US bids to becoming the infrastructure the US will now buy from to support its partners.