The Washington Post quotes Africa Center Director J. Peter Pham on the Pentagon’s decision to open a new drone base in Agadez, Niger:
The White House approved $10 million in emergency aid on Aug. 11 to help airlift French troops and provide midair refueling for French aircraft deployed to West Africa. Analysts said the monetary sum was less important than what it symbolized: U.S. endorsement of a new French plan to deploy 3,000 troops across the region.
“We have this confluence of interests where both countries are working much more closely than would have been thought possible just a couple of years ago,” said J. Peter Pham, an expert on African security at the Atlantic Council, a Washington think tank.