1/ Nowhere is the U.S. foreign policy resource gap bigger than in West Africa. The growing security crisis there is created by political and economic vacuums, yet the U.S. really only has military cards to play.
nytimes.com/2020/02/27/wor…
nytimes.com/2020/02/27/wor…
2/ A new, progressive foreign policy has to create new tools to deploy in places like the Sahel. We should be providing economic/governance supports - addressing the drivers of extremist growth.
But we're stuck in a world where DoD/Intel gets 20x as much funding as State/USAID.
But we're stuck in a world where DoD/Intel gets 20x as much funding as State/USAID.
3/ To make matters worse, the Admin policy is a mess. 1/4 of all Africans are now on the travel ban list, and Trump's comments about Africans living in "huts" pushes potential partners away from us.
And Pompeo and Esper have competing policies in the Sahel, confusing everyone.
And Pompeo and Esper have competing policies in the Sahel, confusing everyone.
4/ There are limits to how much influence America can exert in West Africa. We should be wary of hubris. But when all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. Until we build real non-military capacities in West Africa, we'll be stuck fighting the wrong battle.
