Looking Ahead in Mali
Chances are that French air power combined with superior numbers and equipment on the ground in Mali will prevail and force the jihadis to retreat in some fashion to the Sahel. That, however, will hardly be the end.
We know from previous wars in Afghanistan, Yemen, Iraq and elsewhere that the jihadis take a long view of the global war they are waging. In Mali, one of the principal armed jihadist groups, Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, has been operating for years in a vast space in the north where the Malian government has and will have little control. We know, too, that France cannot afford politically or economically to sustain a long-term intervention.… Seguir leyendo »