The United States is scrambling to assess the future of its counter-terrorism operations in the Sahel after Niger’s junta announced it was ending decades of military cooperation with Washington.

The US military has hundreds of troops at a large air base in northern Niger, which deploys flights over the vast Sahel region, south of the Sahara desert, where jihadist groups linked to al Qaeda and the Islamic State are active.

The State Department said on Sunday in a post on X, formerly Twitter, that the two sides’ official talks were sincere and that they were in contact with the junta. It is not clear whether the US has room to negotiate a deal to stay in the country.

As reported by Euronews, Niger had been seen as one of the last nations in the restive region that Western nations could work with to counter growing jihadist insurgencies.

The US and France had more than 2,500 troops in the region until recently and had invested – along with other European countries – hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid and training.

Also read: Niger | Ongoing talks for the withdrawal of French soldiers