The same questions apply here as to the U.S.’s long misadventure in Afghanistan: could the Western troops stay there forever? Why does the jihad activity always resurge when the opposition is weak, and is never eradicated? Western authorities should ponder that second question, but they won’t.
“With France withdrawing from northern Mali, fears grow of a resurgence of jihadist activity,” France 24, December 15, 2021:
After nine years deployed in Mali, France is organising a drawdown, with troops preparing to leave the last of three bases in the far north of the insurgency-hit and poverty-wracked country. French troops were sent to Mali in 2013 by then-president Francois Hollande to tackle the rebels affiliated to Al-Qaeda or Islamic State in the arid north….
Michael says
300 British troops with 3 Chinook helicopters which are shown in the France24 film clip, have been supporting the French. Are they staying to support the Mali troops?
With decent financial and materiel support I guess several countries, with skin in this game, would be ready to fill the gap left by France: Algeria, Morocco, Cameroon, Nigeria, Senegal for starters. Some would need to hold their noses.
gravenimage says
Why would you think that Muslim countries are apt to oppose Jihad terror? This is all perfectly Islamic.
Michael says
One of the counties I listed (but the censor deleted) is semi Xian Nigeria, where a civil war ‘rages’ between the Muslim Peul / Fulani nomadic cattle herders of the north and the settled farmers of the south. Given the desertification in the north (the Sahel) and the population explosion, both sets are converging. They already have troops fighting Boko Haram.
Moderates in Algeria (above all the Berbers) backed the FLN regime in a civil war (1991 t0 2002) against jihadism and won. The Berbers (once a Jewish / Christian people) have been resisting radical Islam since the Arabs invaded in 647 AD. Most of the Berbers converted to Islam, many intermarried with Arabs and joined the army invading Spain under the Berber general Tariq. (Gibraltar Jebel (the mountain of) Tarik bears his name).
Eric Zemmour is named after the Phoenician colony Zemmouri, near Algiers or the Berber word for olive tree. He is proof that Berber Jews lived in Algeria from ca 800 BC (when the Phoenicians colonised the North African coast), to 1962.
Why would moderate Muslims not fight radical Islam?
gravenimage says
Michael wrote:
One of the counties I listed (but the censor deleted) is semi Xian Nigeria
……………………
Michael, no one here is going to edit your comments. Your comment appears above, and does indeed include Nigeria. What are you babbling about?
born saturday says
for the malians it is a horrendus development…. for the french it is a great relief to bring its soldiers back home….
it is no secret that france is preparing for civil war inside the country which could be the reason they are withdrawing from mali…. for sure if france was found to a fight in africa and a simoultaneous civil war in france things would be not so much in their favour…
gravenimage says
Actually, almost two-thirds of Malians support the imposition of Shari’ah law, so many Malians are probably not that bothered by Jihad.
Michael Copeland says
“insurgency-hit and poverty-wracked”: also slavery-ridden.
gravenimage says
You are not wrong, Michael.
David M says
France needs its troops at home when the civil war of Islam v infidels kicks off in France anyway.
Hank says
Yes, they face a self-caused, Islamic imported, civil war in France. With a possible Islamization fed-up French population combined with a spectacular Erik Zemmour Presidential candidate win – who knows what wonders that would bring. His campaign speeches indicate that he may actually be the man that expels the Islamic hordes, as Ferdinand and Isabella did, when they made Islam illegal throughout Spain (1502).
France needs its troops home before election date April 10, 2022.
Krishna says
as long as islamic belief is strong in muslim heartland there are 10 generations of jihadis waiting
gravenimage says
French troops withdrawing from Mali after nine years, jihad resurgence feared
…………..
Mali is almost 95% Muslim–of course there will be Jihad the moment France pulls out. And not even their presence has prevented Jihad altogether. Just like other Islamic hell holes like Afghanistan, Westerners cannot civilize these tracts of Dar-al-Islam.