But the situation on the ground remains extremely dangerous, despite the killing of several jihadist leaders in recent months, say French military sources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition, Macron’s strategy needs the support of Mali’s government and army to take up the slack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Swathes of land have been abandoned by the state over the years as the jihadists have advanced, exposing people to trafficking and the spiral of ethnic violence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The state is not making moves to recover this territory, and the armed forces are struggling to provide even enough troops to support operations by the European special forces. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite this grim assessment, the option of a full European withdrawal from Mali is laden with risk. A sudden pullout would inevitably recall the hasty exit by the US forces and their allies from Afghanistan — scenes with the potential to damage trust in the West for years to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

dab\/fz\/blb\/ri\/mbx<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

France and its European allies are casting a worried eye at Mali’s military junta over its plans to hire Russian mercenaries to help fight jihadist insurgents. European nations in a French-led campaign to shore up Mali have warned of far-reaching consequences at a time when the junta is already under scrutiny over its progress to restore civilian rule. Alarm bells sounded last week after sources in the French presidency and security services said Mali’s rulers were close to hiring a thousand paramilitaries from the so-called Wagner group. The shadowy organisation has long been suspected to be the Kremlin’s paramilitary arm, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2301,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[544,545],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"\n