The recent withdrawal of French troops from Chad must be viewed against the backdrop of the series of crises that have occurred following Chad's independence. These crises testify to the great difficulty of managing an asymmetric relationship rooted in a colonial past, but also to internal considerations within successive Chadian regimes. The failure of French military interventions in the Sahel and the rejection of the French presence by populations that connected it with contested regimes undoubtedly also played a role.