Cutting American aid could not only weaken French-led counterterrorism efforts, analysts say. It could also open the door to China and Russia, which are ready to seize any foothold the United States cedes on the continent, dangling deals for new ports and railroads as well as arms and mercenaries, and overall influence.
Important story. Not sure I agree with the diction.
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Thanks for the important reporting.
Under Trump, when it comes to doing something to help America or its allies, you can see the money is withdrawn - unless it also helps Russia. When will the R's get a clue and run with it instead of pretending to not see their complicity in our destruction.
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The US is not the world's policeman. Nor should we be.
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Great reportage. Please stay with this story. We too often cast Africa aside as irrelevant; even supposedly well educated classes here who fancy themselves supremely well-informed have no clue about what is happening in Africa and could care less. Anyone who has recently done military service there or otherwise been in a working, not-a-tourist-on-safari role knows what a dynamic continent it is and how amazing and diverse the African people are. They want and need our help, especially the people of the Sahel who so greatly appreciate our military assistance. Let's not take the incredibly stupid step of abandoning them to ISIS, the Russians and Chinese, and giving in to the growing bipartisan isolationist sentiment here at home.
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The increasing radicalizing in West Africa is a real problem but not one for the US to solve. Full stop.
We cannot be the world’s police force.
As former Army it broke my heart seeing the 82nd Airborne’s recent emergency deployment to Iraq. Fatigue was written across all the faces of the troops I saw in the press/media coverage. That said, I have full confidence that the 82nd will execute their mission and do it well.
Our military is stretched too far and any activity in West Africa forces us to rely on unreliable local elements. This is a recipe for disaster.
What we need to be doing is serving notice to those that are fueling the radicalization in West Africa (I’m looking at you Saudi Arabia) and say that there will be consequences if the situation worsens there. Not much I realize given the real politik that requires us to support a monarchy that kills reporters — but I’d rather have the status quote than a failed state in the Kingdom because then we would really have problems.
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Pull the troops out and you leave all those working in the communities exposed to the terrorits, including USAID and our diplomats. It is not an impossible task if the western nations work together.
Is anyone really surprised by what this administration is doing or not? When this crowd of Trumpian bumblers gets moving, there is no predicting how rapidly things can go bad. Their ability to generate and ensure chaos is unparalleled in US history.
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@R I am not a Trump supporter but I say three years into his administration and he hasn’t caused an Iraq or Libya — which is more than his prior two predecessors can say. Accordingly, your last statement is inaccurate and over dramatic.
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@Sam I suggest you study history and read current news..Trump has caused major chaos and damage nationally and internationally....and continues blithely and dangerously down that path. Agree that the Iraq disaster by the Bush-Cheney-Rice-Wolfowitz cabal, which was an absolute disaster and a war crime. Libya..I am not so certain about that, but I do know that Mrs. Clinton was unfairly and unjustly attacked by the right wing.
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It would be an embarrassment for the U.S. to pickup and leave those in need and others there set up to protect them in the face of these threats of dominance. Confront the enemy especially it's leaders using their method of battle and it will go away. In reality it's only a handful that are at the root. Been that way for a long time.
It is the task of all nations to help stabilize this region. if our troops leave, so do the humanitarian workers. France needs our help to help stabilize this region which is in such chaos. There is such poverty and yes corruption. That is why our help is needed - military and humanitarian.
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It is hardly credible to believe that the country that has killed more people than any other over the last five decades (the US) will implement a peace plan anywhere. It is also silly to believe that in places where feudalism is the historic norm they will somehow wake from their delusions and become peaceful caring people.
We should encourage violent societies to kill themselves, but without direct US involvement.
I assume our desire to get involved really is about feeling the pain ourselves. We seem to desire the experience of violence as much as any warlord society.
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So who is funding, training, and arming the terrorists this time?
And why?
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Iran, the Taliban, China and Russia (weapons) More importantly, we need to help with food, water, education, and stabilization.
When in doubt---pull them out.
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I lived in northern Togo on the Burkina Faso Border for more than two years with Peace Corps from 2015-2017. This isn't just a terrorism issue, it is a migration issue, an environmental issue, and an economic one. There is immense potential for economic growth in the energy and agricultural sectors in the Sahel that address the issues of environmental degradation and low job opportunities. These things in turn counter extremism. We need security, it is in our best interest and for a paltry sum of money compared to Trump's golf outings. We have a ridiculously large defense budget, there is no reason we can't continue to provide training, intelligence, and air support. And as the article says our support presence directly counters China. This problem is indicative of a larger problem with US leadership, no clear strategy, just haphazard comments and willy nilly decisions.
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Wow! Getting out of this region would give us a kind of twofer. Let Russia and China "take over": they'll be sacrificing their own troops in order to do business with a bunch of corrupt governments that have little of substance to offer in any case.
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I wish I had been keeping track of how many times I read the phrase "mixed messages" this morning!
Of course our current administration would deny every such assertion, despite abundant evidence.
This is France's playground. Let them handle it.
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Yikes! Shades of the mid-'70s when the departing Tercio- Spain's foreign legion-- had built bubbled-roofed forts in what had been the Spanish Sahara which had suddenly been gobbled up by Mauritania.
Odd that Washington is back training West African troops. One might have thought it had learned its lesson from Mali where a US- trained battalion mutinied, leading to the mess the Sahel
the French felt they had to clean up.
Best, methinks, to provide the drone and other air support involving not much, if any training of African troops.
Jonathan Randal, former Washinton Post roving correspondent
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@Jonathan Randal It was my understanding that Morocco seized the former Spanish Sahara and engaged in a war with the Polisario resistance that has persisted ever since. Mauritania is a bystander in this war.
Send our boys home. We don’t need to be involved in these colonial projects across the globe.
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