U.S. Marines Train Nigeriens To Fight Against Al Qaeda Based In The Sahara Desert

SAMARI, NIGER - SEPTEMBER 22: A U.S. Marine shares a cigarette with a Nigerien soldier during a training exercise September 22, 2004 in Samara, Niger. Through the Trans-Sahara Counter Terrorist Initiative (TSCTI) previously known as the Pan-Sahel Initiative (PSI), U.S. Marines are training local forces in Mauritania, Mali, Niger and Chad to fight Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups who are thought to be based in the Sahara Desert. U.S. officials fear such group are using ungoverned areas with porous borders. The Niger military is being trained to locate and kill an enemy based on a coordinates provided by satellite. (Photo by Jacob Silberberg/Getty Images)