WASHINGTON — The American military is investigating a weekend vehicle accident in Niger that killed a French soldier in which the driver, a United States Green Beret, is suspected of drunken driving, Defense Department officials said. The fatal accident on Saturday — which occurred while the soldiers were off duty — comes as concerns about misconduct have put the American military’s elite forces under increased scrutiny in the past year. The Pentagon is already preparing to withdraw hundreds of troops from Africa as part of a strategy to shift military resources to counter threats from China and Russia. Maj. Casey R. Osborne, a spokesman for Special Operations Command Africa, said on Tuesday that the American soldier was evacuated to Europe for medical treatment and there was “an ongoing investigation into this incident.”The French soldier, Brigadier-Chef Karim El Arabi, was treated at the scene and evacuated to Agadez, in central Niger, before he died early Sunday morning, Major Osborne said.

Source: New York Times December 11, 2018 18:41 UTC