{"id":57789,"date":"2020-02-27T22:41:39","date_gmt":"2020-02-27T22:41:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2020\/02\/27\/expect-congress-to-block-africa-troop-cuts-says-defense-panel-chairman\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T00:18:24","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T00:18:24","slug":"expect-congress-to-block-africa-troop-cuts-says-defense-panel-chairman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/congress\/2020\/02\/27\/expect-congress-to-block-africa-troop-cuts-says-defense-panel-chairman\/","title":{"rendered":"Expect Congress to block Africa troop cuts, says defense panel chairman"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WASHINGTON \u2015 The upcoming 2021 defense policy bill will likely restrict the Pentagon from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/pentagon\/2020\/02\/26\/heres-what-espers-africom-review-has-decided-so-far\/\" target=_blank>reducing its footprint in Africa<\/a>, the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee said Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As Defense Secretary Mark Esper mulls plans to cut some of the 6,000 U.S. military personnel in Africa, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/congress\/2020\/01\/03\/hasc-chair-adam-smith-on-how-dems-can-win-in-2020-mideast-wars-and-acquisition-reform\/\" target=_blank>Rep. Adam Smith<\/a>, D-Wash., and Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., took separate trips to the continent this month, each returning and expressing support for American troop presence there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Whether or not the Pentagon proposes the cuts, Smith said it\u2019s likely the nascent national defense authorization bill would provide a vehicle for growing congressional consensus around protecting that presence. If so, it could be a lifeline to African nations who rely on the U.S. to train their forces to combat surging terrorist activity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cRight now, the reason [legislative protections are] likely is it\u2019s drawn a lot of attention,\u201d Smith said of Africa during a roundtable with reporters Thursday. \u201cAlso, I think there is a pretty firm opinion of our presence in Africa: The return on investment is more than worth it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Though Esper has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/pentagon\/2020\/01\/22\/esper-says-no-decisions-have-been-on-africom-changes\/\" target=_blank>stressed<\/a> that no final decisions have been made, he has been considering moving forces out of U.S. Africa Command\u2019s area of operations as part of a broad review of the military\u2019s regional combatant commands. It was reported late last year the Pentagon was looking at removing several hundred forces from Chad, Niger and Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/your-military\/2020\/01\/21\/west-african-leaders-warn-it-would-be-a-mistake-to-cut-back-us-troops-in-africa\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"229\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/48120417378_4ca7f9f23e_k.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">West African leaders warn it would be a \u2018mistake\u2019 to cut back US troops in Africa<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">U.S. Africa Command says that there are approximately 6,000 Department of Defense personnel in Africa, but those numbers could go down following a review the Pentagon is executing to reexamine U.S. troop presence in multiple areas of operations.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The nations Smith visited \u2015 Tunisia, Niger and Mali \u2015 are grappling with growing terrorist groups, some with ties to the Islamic State group\u2019s central command structure in Iraq and Syria, Smith said. The U.S. presence, he said, helps ensure local governments aren\u2019t overrun by these groups and helps counter Russian and Chinese influence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI think the consensus opinion I\u2019ve seen, at least among the people on our committees in the Senate and the House, is that Africa at best has enough [U.S. troops] and at worst needs more,\u201d Smith said. \u201cThere\u2019s no opinion out there I\u2019ve seen that we ought to be reducing in Africa.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If the U.S. were to reduce its troop presence in Africa, European allies would be less likely to send their own forces, said Smith, who also visited U.S. European Command. The U.S., he said, brings a unique counterinsurgency skill set that other countries lack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI think there would be a real concern if we were to completely pull out &#8230; that part of the fight would be completely hampered,\u201d Smith said. \u201cIt needs to be a team effort; so yes, if we were to reduce our commitment there, I think you would see a reluctance among out partners.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On Africa, Esper is \u201cclearly listening\u201d to pushback from lawmakers and is \u201cmaking adjustments,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/congress\/2020\/01\/17\/smith-thornberry-join-congressional-pushback-on-espers-africa-troop-drawdown-plan\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"212\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/USARMYTimes5.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Esper\u2019s Africa drawdown snags on Capitol Hill<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Top lawmakers on the armed services committees are warning against removing American forces from parts of Africa.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In his own roundtable with reporters earlier in the week, Inhofe said he was convinced, after speaking with Esper, that the secretary would conclude an increased troop presence is merited in Africa. Inhofe led a congressional delegation to Uganda, Ghana and Mauritania.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWest Africa is where the terrorists are starting to zero in, so we have to be sure that we are not reducing troop strength,\u201d Inhofe said, adding that Africa Command\u2019s contingent is nothing next to that of European Command and Indo-Pacific Command. \u201cIf you reduced all of it, it wouldn\u2019t mean anything [in terms of budget]; it\u2019s such a small number.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As Esper conducts his review of the combatant commands with an eye toward a big-picture defense strategy and a flat defense budget, Smith anticipated members would propose measures beyond Africa to protect their priorities \u2015 including the U.S. presence in South Korea and Afghanistan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While Smith was supportive of the Trump administration\u2019s peace talks with the Taliban, which have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/your-military\/2020\/02\/21\/us-taliban-agree-to-reduction-in-violence-paving-way-for-peace-agreement\/\" target=\"_blank\">reportedly yielded an agreement<\/a>, he was concerned the American troop presence \u201cmight go to zero too fast.\u201d Under the plan, the American military presence would initially be reduced to 8,600 troops from the current 12,000.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The upcoming 2021 defense policy bill will likely restrict the Pentagon from reducing its footprint in Africa, says the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":104968,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":8,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":{"2":{"categories":["pentagon-congress","news"],"primary_category":"pentagon-congress"},"4":{"categories":["pentagon-congress","news","daily-news-roundup","newsletters"],"primary_category":"pentagon-congress"},"5":{"categories":["pentagon-congress","news","daily-news-roundup","newsletters"],"primary_category":"pentagon-congress"},"6":{"categories":["pentagon-congress","news","daily-news-roundup","newsletters"],"primary_category":"pentagon-congress"},"7":{"categories":["pentagon-congress","news","daily-news-roundup","newsletters"],"primary_category":"pentagon-congress"}}},"categories":[8,160,36],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3446],"class_list":["post-57789","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-congress","category-daily-news-roundup","category-newsletters"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"53TNQT7Z2RB5BE7TJPSJSKD6LA","arc_canonical_url":"\/congress\/2020\/02\/27\/expect-congress-to-block-africa-troop-cuts-says-defense-panel-chairman\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Expect Congress to block Africa troop cuts, says defense panel chairman - Defense News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The upcoming 2021 defense policy bill will likely restrict the Pentagon from reducing its footprint in Africa, says the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Expect Congress to block Africa troop cuts, says defense panel chairman\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The upcoming 2021 defense policy bill will likely restrict the Pentagon from reducing its footprint in Africa, says the chairman 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