The United States will
make a decision on the level of its presence in Africa, particularly in the
Sahel region, in about two months, Washington's top military officer said
Thursday.
Washington
has some 7,000 special forces on rotation in Africa carrying out joint
operations with national forces against jihadists, particularly in Somalia.
"There
is no explicit timeline," the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff,
General Mark Milley, told journalists.
Milley
was on a plane to Washington after a meeting in Paris with his French
counterpart General Francois Lecointre.
"We'll
probably get Secretary-level decisions in a month or two, maybe six weeks,
something like that," he added, referring to Defense Secretary Mark Esper.
Esper
has announced his intention to implement the national defense plan outlined by
his predecessor, Jim Mattis, that refocuses the Pentagon's efforts on the US'
strategic competitors -- China and Russia -- at the expense of the
anti-jihadist fight.
On
Monday, Milley said the US wants to reduce its military presence in Africa,
just as French President Emmanuel Macron was gathering his counterparts from
Burkina Faso, Chad, Niger, Mali and Mauritania in an effort to bolster the
fight against jihadists in the Sahel.
French
officials were alarmed, with a presidency source saying the US made
"irreplaceable" contributions to Sahel operations -- particularly in
surveillance and air-to-air refuelling.
France
has 4,500 soldiers deployed as part of the so-called Barkhane operation in the
Sahel-Saharan strip, an area as large as Europe, to fight against armed
extremist groups.
The
Sahel countries also said they hoped Washington would maintain its
"crucial support" in combating the Islamist extremists.
Milley
said that the US has no intention of withdrawing completely from Africa.
"A
lot of people think that we are 'pulling out of Africa.' I think that is a
mischaracterisation and an overstatement," he said.
"The
question that we are working with the French on, is the level of effort we are
supporting the French with. Is it too much? Too little? About right?" he
said.
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