NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. — Some members of our local Congressional delegation are pushing the Biden Administration for more information about Air National Guard soldiers from the Niagara Falls airbase who are stuck with a difficult mission in Africa. Their deployment has been extended and the families of the troops are concerned.
Last fall, members of the 107th Attack Wing of the Air National Guard at the Niagara Falls airbase deployed for what was expected to be a six-month mission to the West African Republic of Niger where the U.S. has had a military security relationship since 2013.
The 107th, which flies MQ-9 Reaper Remotely Piloted Aircraft, is part of a U.S. effort to keep watch over Al Qaeda and ISIS-linked terrorist camps in northern Africa.
But then last summer there were riots in the capital city as military leaders took power from Niger's President and they eventually demanded all U.S. troops leave from two airbases. That demand came just as Russian military forces were welcomed in.
Now the 107th's mission has been extended as the Pentagon ordered a withdrawal program to be finished by September 15th.
Family members, who do not wish to go on camera, reached out to us and members of Congress
Last Friday U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, who sits on the Senate's Armed Services Committee told 2 On Your Side that her office is now checking as well with the Pentagon's African Command. "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."
And now a strongly worded letter has been sent to Defense Secretary Austin and Secretary of State Blinken by Representative Langworthy which again raises family concerns. It also references the troubled 2021 U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in which some U.S. soldiers died in a suicide bombing and U.S. military equipment was left behind.
Langworthy told us today "We're going to stay very much on this. This letter was to create a matter of record on this. Obviously, there's a lot of news in the world right now and it's a relatively small amount of troops but it's not small to me. And we have constituents there. And we listen to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and he has assured us that there is no risk currently to the U.S. forces. We have requested immediate and comprehensive updates from the Administration to ensure that our troops, they're safe, they're well supplied, and that they're informed of what's going on. Our service members and their families deserve nothing less than transparency."
Langworthy added, "The goal here is to avoid a repeat of what we saw in Afghanistan which was a complete disaster for our troops and our country's interests, as well as the whole region."
