In March 2018, General Thomas D. Waldhauser, Commander of the United States Africa Command (AFRICOM), testified in front of the House Armed Services Committee, as he gave the command’s annual Posture Statement to Congress. General Waldhauser’s examination of the Sahel region is centered around the “African-led, French-assisted, and U.S.-supported” G5 Sahel organization, which includes the countries of Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, and Niger. The other countries in the Sahel region are not considered as important or receive as much attention as Niger, but they have significant characteristics of the region as a whole as well as purposes for the U.S. military.