General Michael Langley warned Congress about the growing threat of the jihadist group JNIM to regional stability and U.S. national security. The U.S. was contemplating reducing AFRICOM, amidst budget cuts to USAID in the region and shifting towards a transactional relationship with Africa. JNIM, founded in Mali in 2017 from five jihadist groups, has been expanding its influence through violence and territorial gains across Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso. Despite the threat, governments in West Africa are currently too weak or reluctant to combat JNIM effectively.
Our assessment indicates that, if left unchecked, these organizations will continue to grow, and their threat to regional stability, as well as to U.S. national security interests, will only intensify.
General Langley was urging everyone to begin paying attention now, or else you're going to have to do it later when the situation is worse.
JNIM was founded in Mali in 2017 as a coalition of five jihadist groups, including the Sahara branch of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.
JNIM began to gain momentum by seizing land and bringing terror to Mali, and then to neighboring Niger and Burkina Faso.
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