Last Saturday the Washington Post claimed that the U.S. had agreed to move its troops out of Sudan. Other media made similar claims. I found those claims to be wrong”

We’ve agreed to begin conversations within days about how to develop a plan” to withdraw troops, said the senior State Department official. “They’ve agreed that we do it in an orderly and responsible way. And we will need to probably dispatch folks to Niamey to sit down and hash it out. And that of course will be a Defense Department project.”

– “We have agreed to begin conservations” – (we didn’t really agree to pull out troops, just to talks)
– “about how to develop a plan” – (should we write a plan for something-something in Excel or Word?)
– “in an orderly and responsible way” – (we see absolutely no time pressure or deadline)
– “need to probably dispatch folks to Niamey” – (there will be many delays and the team will change often)
– “that of course will be a Defense Department project” – (We, the State Department, will hardly be involved. When the shit hits the fan the Pentagon will be to blame for it.)

https://www.moonofalabama.org/2024/04/pentagon-confirms-delayed-withdrawal-of-us-troops-from-niger.html