France’s Failure in Mali Threatens the World

Trump’s Nigeria obsession distracts from the real al Qaeda crisis in the Sahel.

A man in Bamako buys a newspaper announcing a major drawdown of France's military presence in the Sahel on June 11, 2021. November 5, 2025, 11:46 AM Comment icon View Comments ( )

U.S. President Donald Trump has a habit of exaggerating threats where they barely exist while ignoring genuine catastrophes unfolding in plain sight. His recent claims that Christians are existentially threatened in Nigeria are wildly overblown—the reality in Africa’s most populous nation is complex, with violence afflicting Muslims and Christians alike. But while Trump fixates on a phantom problem, a very real calamity is reaching its crescendo in Mali, where al Qaeda-affili

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