The Trump administration is reportedly considering military action against an al-Qaeda-linked group in Mali, which would mark an eighth country hit by U.S. strikes under Trump’s second term.
Trump Weighs Military Strikes In Mali
The Trump administration is weighing military action in Mali against JNIM, an al-Qaeda-affiliated militant group that has become one of the most powerful armed factions in West Africa, according to a Washington Post report by John Hudson and Rachel Chason published Wednesday, citing current and former U.S. officials.
The report says senior officials are divided on whether to strike, with National Security Council counterterrorism director Sebastian Gorka reportedly pushing hard for action. Neither Gorka nor the Pentagon responded to the Post’s requests for comment.
A White House official, per the report, would not confirm whether strikes were imminent but said Washington has urged Sahel nations to buy U.S. equipment for their anti-terror fights, blaming Russia’s Africa Corps mercenaries for failing to stabilize Mali.
JNIM has expanded rapidly, according to the Post, staging a nationwide fuel blockade last year and, this spring, storming Bamako’s streets, seizing a northern city, and killing Mali’s defense minister in a suicide attack.
Should strikes proceed, Mali would join Yemen, Somalia, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Nigeria and Venezuela on the list of nations targeted under Trump, the Post reports.
Analysts quoted in the piece, including Sahel specialist Wassim Nasr, cautioned that renewed military action has repeatedly failed to end the region’s insurgency, pointing to unsuccessful French and Russian interventions over the past decade.
Source: The Washington Post
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