NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. — Reservists and Guard members at the Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station are often deployed, sometimes overseas, to potentially hazardous areas to serve our nation.
Now following the difficult, dangerous 2021 Afghanistan withdrawal, some people are concerned about troops from the base who are on a mission in an African nation with political turmoil.
The flags of the United States and the Republic of Niger in West Africa fly together in a Pentagon provided 2022 video at a U.S. base in that country.
But now that long-standing military security relationship may be broken following a military takeover coup in July 2023.
New leaders of that country told the United States to withdraw all its estimated 900 troops. Most of them are at two airbases in the country. This is occurring even as some Russian troops have reportedly been moving in nearby.
We are told among those troops are members of the Air National Guard's 107th attack wing from Niagara Falls. The unit is reportedly assigned to fly counterterrorism missions using the MQ-9 Reaper drone to keep watch over suspected Al Qaeda and ISIS-linked terrorist groups operating in parts of North Africa.
Now the original deployment for most of those troops has been extended as they are assigned help to prepare for an "orderly withdrawal" from those bases with a deadline of Sept. 15.
With questions surfacing about resupply for the troops and family concerns, last Friday we spoke with U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand who sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee. She told 2 On Your Side she was in contact with leaders of the U.S. military's African Command.
"We did check with Afri-Com, and Afri-Com believes everything is stable and appropriate and well supplied. But because of the concerns of the family members of these troops, I'm going to inquire further, so I'm gonna really figure out, do we need to evacuate service members? Are they being evacuated? Do they have the supplies and water and food that they need," Gillibrand said.
"I take these kinds of concerns from family members very seriously, because sometimes they're the first ones to know that there's a problem that hasn't bubbled up yet through the command. So I'm going to go back at it and get more information to see how I can help."
2 On Your Side has reached out to other regional congressional offices for their input, and we will follow this story.
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