There are lawmakers claiming that the October 4th attacks on U.S. soldiers are a mystery that need to be investigated, that they have no idea why twelve U.S. soldiers from the Army's 3rd Special Forces Group were ambushed, leaving four killed and two wounded.
It couldn't possibly be because there is U.S. construction going on to set up a second drone base in the country's northern desert — a $100 million drone base. The United States is setting Niger up to be a regional hub for counterterror operations (since Niger is the only country in the region willing to allow a U.S. base for predator drones). The United States has had troops in Niger for years. In 2013, the White House announced that then President Obama had deployed 100 military personnel to Niger. Since then, the number of US troops in the nation has risen to about 800. And ever since the attack, there have been calls for an increase in military personnel.
And now there are people calling for an increase in the number of troops in Niger.
It is being claimed that the U.S. soldiers were attacked by an ISIS affiliated group, but there is not enough information yet to make that claim. Especially considering the fact that there are multiple different militias operating in the area.
Since then, this attack has been a source of great controversy for the Trump administration. On October 16th, Trump was asked why he hadn't commented publicly on the deaths of four U.S. service members in Niger. Trump's response set off one of the uglier incidents in his administration. After implying that previous administrations didn't do enough to comfort grieving families, a congresswoman claimed that the president told a young mother widowed by the Niger attack that her husband "knew what he signed up for." Then the father of another deceased soldier said Trump promised to send him a $25,000 check that never arrived (New York). Although the White House now says that the check is in the mail (Washington Post).