More Militarism Won't Help West Africa

Nothing could better illustrate the bankruptcy of the “war on terror” than falling back on the same tactics that clearly haven’t worked and aren’t likely to work in the future.

The U.S. answer to the failure of militarized counterterrorism in west Africa is more drone bases in neighboring countries:

The effort to build up American forces in the coastal states suggests Washington believes Mali and Burkina Faso are so inundated with Islamist militants that they are beyond the reach of Western help, and that it fears Niger, which until a July coup was the staunchest American ally in the region, is now unreliable.

“There’s really not much option other than to fall back and operate out of the coastal West African states,” said retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Mark Hicks, former commander of U.S. special-operations troops in Africa.

Nothing could better illustrate the bankruptcy of the “war on terror” than falling back on the same tactics that clearly haven’t worked and aren’t likely to work in the future. Mali and Burkina Faso have become so “inundated” with jihadist groups in large part because the militarized responses to local insurgencies have made the conflicts much worse, and the U.S. and France have contributed to the worsening conditions by supporting the governments that abuse their people. The U.S. is on track to repeat the same mistakes with its new partners.