As the Trump administration continues to spar with a Democratic lawmaker over the President’s efforts to console a grieving military widow, some people are wondering: What was the slain soldier, Sgt. La David Johnson, doing that led to his death in the Western African country of Niger?
The specifics of the U.S. mission in Niger, and in Africa more broadly, have been largely overshadowed by the feud between President Trump, his Chief of Staff John Kelly, and Democratic congresswoman Frederica Wilson. Here’s what to know.
What happened to Sgt. La David Johnson?
Many of the details concerning the event remain unclear as the Pentagon continues to investigate the incident. But the Washington Post reports that, on Oct. 4, a group of eight to 12 U.S. soldiers were ambushed by around 50 Islamist militants while accompanying 30 to 40 Nigerien troops near the village of Tongo Tongo, just south of Niger’s border with Mali.
A thirty-minute firefight ensued, during which four Americans were killed. They included Staff Sgts. Dustin Wright, Bryan Black and Jeremiah Johnson, and Sgt. La David Johnson. Johnson’s remains were returned to the U.S. earlier this week.
The incident went relatively unnoticed until earlier this week, when Rep. Wilson told a local Florida TV station that, when trying to console Sgt. Johnson’s widow, President Trump told her over the phone that Johnson “knew what he signed up for.” Wilson, who said she overheard Trump’s call on a car speakerphone, has been at the center of a political firestorm over the conversation ever since.
Why are U.S. troops in Niger, and where is Niger?
When we think of the U.S. counterterrorism effort overseas, we tend to think of the Middle East. But there has long been a pocket of radical Islam in sub-Saharan Africa — particularly in the countries of Nigeria, Niger, Mali, Chad, and Mauritania — and that pocket continues to grow. The terror inflicted upon northeastern Nigeria by the radical Islamist group Boko Haram, for instance, has been well-documented.
Who was behind the attack on U.S. soldiers in Niger?
According to the Washington Post, the Defense Intelligence Agency has linked the attack to the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara. That’s a confederation of jihadists who pledged their allegiance to the greater Islamic State movement, or ISIS, in 2015. Terror experts report that the group earned credibility in the jihadist realm after a string of attacks in sub-Saharan Africa in the fall of 2015.