U.S. Marines teach the Nigerian navy special forces tactical movements during a training exercise in Lagos, Nigeria, in 2022. President Donald Trump said on Nov. 1, 2025, that the U.S. would halt all aid to Nigeria, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth followed up by saying the Pentagon is preparing for military action in the west African country. (Alexandra Minor/U.S. Air Force)
STUTTGART, Germany — U.S. Africa Command could have a two-front battle against Islamic militants on its hands should President Donald Trump follow through on a threat to send the military into Nigeria.
AFRICOM on Monday declined to comment on any possible mission in Nigeria, saying that as a matter of policy it doesn’t “discuss current or future posturing of forces, nor internal processes that drive planning or operations.”
A day earlier, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth echoed Trump’s comments regarding the west African country, where the Muslim militant group Boko Haram has long been waging a violent insurgency that includes a number of high-profile kidnappings.
“The Department of War is preparing for action,” Hegseth said in a statement, using an alternate name for the Defense Department. “Either the Nigerian Government protects Christians, or we will kill the Islamic Terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities.”
Hegseth’s comments came after Trump on Saturday said he would halt all aid to Nigeria, accusing the country of allowing the killing of Christians. He said he may “go into that now disgraced country, guns-a-blazing.”
“If we attack, it will be fast, vicious, and sweet, just like the terrorist thugs attack our CHERISHED Christians! WARNING: THE NIGERIAN GOVERNMENT BETTER MOVE FAST!,” Trump wrote on the Truth Social platform.
Nigerian leaders pushed back against Trump’s characterization of the situation, saying that any unilateral strike on the country would be unjustified and that both Muslims and Christians have been subjected to attacks from extremists.
While the likelihood of an attack in Nigeria isn’t clear, the Trump administration has demonstrated a willingness to go on the offensive against other Islamic extremists in Africa.
But unlike AFRICOM’s ongoing military campaign on the other side of Africa in Somalia, any similar effort in Nigeria would involve operations without an American-controlled base nearby.
From a military standpoint, a campaign aimed at wiping out Islamic militants in Nigeria — roughly the size of California, Nevada and Utah combined — would be a major logistical undertaking.
The U.S. also is not as well-positioned in the region as it used to be. In 2024, AFRICOM was ordered out of Niger, Nigeria’s neighbor to the north, by a military junta that had seized power in the country.
The pullout upended the U.S. counterterrorism strategy in the region and came five years after the opening of a $110 million base in Agadez that was touted as the largest U.S. Air Force-led construction project in history.
At one time, about 1,000 U.S. troops were in Niger, working at the base in Agadez and another drone installation in the capital city of Niamey.
While the U.S. military has long had smaller security cooperation locations in other countries to serve as launching pads for quick-reaction missions, AFRICOM currently lacks anything in the vicinity of Nigeria on the scale of the former base in Agadez.
In Somalia, by contrast, AFRICOM is in the midst of its most aggressive bombing campaign since the command was formed in 2007.
It is buttressed by military sites in the country used by American forces as well as Camp Lemonnier, a major U.S. military hub in neighboring Djibouti.
So far this year, 89 strikes have been launched against insurgents affiliated with the Islamic State group and al-Qaida, according to AFRICOM data. That’s the highest tally since the previous high of 63 strikes in 2019 during Trump’s first term.
