You have zero knowledge of how Europe rolls. Belgium still runs the Congo. France used to run a half dozen African nations. Both countries installed corrupt leaders and for pennies on the dollar raped their natural resources since the early 1950s.
Everything is nice as long as the Intelligence agencies and State Dept run things, but we use troops when the DiploSpies fail us.
Every place overseas you find US Troops you find failed or failing diplomacy, with the exception of NATO or Pacific WWII Footprint.
“used to run a half dozen African nations”
The key word here is “used”. The world changes grows and evolves and so do countries. Most have given up colonialism and wars of conquests that used to dominate the past. Russia is an exception and so are the Islamist countries. If you are looking around you will see that the world is a much different place than it was last century or even 60 years ago.