The Nigerian government has ended a U.S. effort to train a battalion of its troops to fight Boko Haram, an Islamist terrorist group that is responsible for abducting hundreds of schoolgirls earlier this year, according to the State Department.

The US State Department released a statement saying “"We regret premature termination of this training, as it was to be the first in a larger planned project that would have trained additional units with the goal of helping the Nigerian Army build capacity to counter Boko Haram," State Department spokesman Rodney Ford said in an email to Military Times on Monday.

However reasons were not given as to why  the training was terminated, the statement by the US State Department concluded by stating that, "The U.S. government will continue other aspects of the extensive bilateral security relationship, as well as all other assistance programs, with Nigeria," he said. "The U.S. government is committed to the long tradition of partnership with Nigeria and will continue to engage future requests for cooperation and training."

 

The decision to terminate the military training has drawn a lot of criticism, one of those being  Nigeria's ambassador to the U.S., who said it would hinder the country's efforts to bring down Boko Haram.