The White House provided Congress with detailed information about U.S. troop deployments from Niger to Kosovo on Friday but omitted data from many war-torn countries where the U.S. military has a heavy presence.
Specific troop levels were not reported for Afghanistan, Iraq, the Philippines, Somalia, Syria, or Yemen. Omitting the figures makes it difficult to judge if Trump has approved recent changes, particularly in Syria, a country he suggested in April the U.S. would leave, before a chemical attack resulted in apparent reconsideration.
Troop levels were offered, however, for Egypt (approximately 440), Jordan (approximately 2,600), Kosovo (approximately 690), Lebanon (approximately 120), and Niger (approximately 730). Four U.S. troops were killed by religious radicals in Niger in October 2017, educating much of the public and some lawmakers to the presence of any U.S. troops there to combat local jihadis.
The letter says “United States military personnel are also deployed to Cameroon, Chad, and Nigeria to support counterterrorism operations.” There is no figure provided for these African nations, which neighbor Niger.
The information was sent in an open letter from President Trump to House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., “as part of my efforts to keep the Congress informed about deployments of United States Armed Forces equipped for combat” under the War Powers Resolution of 1973. For some deployments, there’s mention of legal authorities. For others, there’s not.
The letter discloses airstrikes in Libya, which has suffered a complex civil war since 2014, without mention of any troop deployment.
In Yemen, the letter says, “A small number of United States military personnel are deployed … to conduct operations against al-Qa’ida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and ISIS‑Yemen.”
The document affirms continued U.S. involvement in the Saudi-led coalition to restore Yemen’s deposed leader Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi. The intervention has stalled, worsening near-famine conditions in the nation amid civilian casualties from airstrikes. “United States Armed Forces, in a non-combat role, have continued to provide military advice and limited information, logistics, and other support to regional forces combatting the Houthi insurgency in Yemen,” the letter says. “United States forces are present in Saudi Arabia for this purpose.”
In Syria, the document acknowledges “a limited number of strikes against pro-Syrian government forces… [that] were lawful measures to counter immediate threats to partner forces engaged in that campaign.”
Despite the data omissions, the Pentagon previously has circulated ballpark figures for U.S. troops deployed in war zones, including 15,000 in Afghanistan, 5,000 in Iraq, and 2,000 in Syria.
Critics of Trump’s deployments say that Congress must provide specific authorization for combat missions. Trump and his recent predecessors have used an expansive reading of a 2001 war authorization against al Qaeda to battle militant Muslim groups around the world.
