Why does Putin want US out of Niger?

nor has Congress provided a specific statutory authorization for the involvement of United States Armed Forces in the armed conflict or any hostilities in Niger.

Yes they did, Rand: the Authorization for Use of Military Force of 2001. Your own father voted for it when he was in Congress. It's a bad law that never should have been passed, but it's there. Maybe get off your political soapbox and work to repeal it.

Edit: I don't mean to sound like I'm trying to dunk on Rand Paul. I will applaud anyone from any party who manages to get that law off the books. It has been misused by every president for over 20 years. I'm just out of patience and tired of politicians grandstanding and promoting half-measures rather than fixing the core problem.

This is the best summary I could come up with:

Sen. Rand Paul is expected to call Thursday for a vote on a joint resolution that would require President Joe Biden to “remove United States Armed Forces from hostilities in or affecting the Republic of Niger” within 30 days.

Over the last decade, during which U.S. troop strength in Niger grew by 900 percent, U.S. Special Operations forces trained local counterparts and fought and even died there.

After a 2017 ISIS ambush near the village of Tongo Tongo left four U.S. soldiers dead and two wounded, a Pentagon investigation found that while U.S. Africa Command claimed that U.S. troops were providing “advice and assistance” to local forces, the missions “more closely resembled U.S. direct action” — a military euphemism for strikes, raids, and other offensive missions — “than foreign partner-led operations”

“The Sahel has seen a doubling in the number of violent events involving militant Islamist groups since 2021 (now totaling 2,912),” according to a recent report by the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, a Defense Department research institution.

In early September, Paul sent a letter — citing The Intercept’s reporting on the secret use of proxy forces in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia — to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin asking for information about U.S. military operations in Niger and around the world.

Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren — both of whom pledged in 2019 to help bring the forever wars to a “responsible and expedient” end — to inquire if they supported Paul’s joint resolution.

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