The last time we raised the periscope on troubled Niger, chaos reigned: President Macron was evacuating France’s envoy out of her former colony and President Bazoum, ousted in a midsummer coup, was being detained by the self-described president of the National Council for Safeguarding of the Nation, General Tiani. Paris has been demanding his release, but nobody at Niamey can be bothered to  listen — especially not to the French.

It’s another in a line of French foreign policy flops — international coalition to stamp out Hamas, anyone? — but that is not what’s weighing heavily on the mind of Senator Paul, Republican of Kentucky and member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. Washington has more than a thousand troops in the impoverished African nation, and Dr. Paul wants them out. 

Last week, citing a continuation of his efforts to “restore Congress’s constitutional war powers” and the need “to address the deteriorating political situation and increased risk to U.S. troops in Niger,” Dr. Paul forced the Senate to vote on his War Powers Resolution. That resolution sought to direct  President Biden to remove all American forces “from hostilities in Niger within 30 days of its enactment.”

He didn’t get the votes. While 10 senators supported the resolution, 86 Senate Republicans and Democrats “voted against the removal of U.S. troops in Niger amidst a military coup, further entangling America in another foreign conflict,” Dr. Paul said in a statement. 

“We have over 1,000 U.S. military personnel sitting in the middle” of the “Sahel powder keg,” he added.  “American forces face a very real risk of being caught in the crossfire of a regional African war. So, we must ask, what are we doing in Niger?” 

For the libertarian conservative lawmaker, that Congress never voted to send troops to Niger is a major point of contention. Less academically, there is no question that mayhem in the region is boiling over. Earlier this month, jihadists launched an attack against the legitimate Nigerian army at Tahoua, killing 29 soldiers. The French ambassador may be gone but there are an estimated 1,500 French troops in Niger, with more than a few reportedly based near Tahoua — but none stepped in to thwart that onslaught.

Possibly they were busy  guarding a major uranium mine owned by a French nuclear giant, Areva.

France has a smattering of forces in former French African colonies almost by default — c’est l’histoire. There are strategic mineral deposits too — gold and uranium in particular, both in Niger and in neighboring Mali. Washington has underwritten a major drone base at Agadez, on the southern rim of the Sahara. The political volatility that has swept over those desert sands since July may be a compelling reason to actually keep some American forces in the country instead of drawing them down. 

Or not. With wars in Europe and the Middle East raging, it is easy to overlook turmoil in other latitudes, though the French have a pretty good eye for the map of Africa. But whether Paris or Washington takes a magnifying glass to it these days, what they will find is a disturbing picture. 

A junta is also in control of Mali, where this month jihadi elements and Turareg rebels seized sizable swaths of the country’s north. Last month at Gao, a city on the Niger River southeast of Timbuktu, Wagner mercenary forces reportedly killed a number of Malian soldiers and beheaded civilians. They also are said to have snapped up a number of gold mines.

In the meantime, the nouveau Nigerien regime under General Tiani is wobbling under sanctions from the European Union and the Nigeria-based Economic Community of West African States. The latter could  intervene militarily if President Bazoum is not restored to power.

Yet, as Dr. Paul observed ahead of the Senate vote, in September Mali and Burkina Faso signed a mutual defense pact with Niger and stated they will fight on behalf of the new military junta if Ecowas invades. 

Would it actually  invade? That is doubtful. A more likely scenario is that the Quai d’Orsay pays General Tiani un petite bribe to get Mr. Bazoum out of the presidential palace and into some kind of power sharing arrangement. The perception of stability is itself a kind of fuel in these parts.

There is no doubt, though, that the African country is a mess. If all-knowing Paris has not been able to offer a viable fix to date, chances are it will not be able to do so in the near future. For Dr. Paul, there is “no exit strategy and no constitutional authorization” for American forces in the country — and a junta calling the shots doesn’t leave much room for investment or nation-building.

If Washington is somewhat adrift here, it would not be the first instance of President Biden having more in common with the rudderless Mr. Macron than he might care to admit.