The Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan and withdrawal of Western troops was closely watched by Islamist insurgent groups on the continent.
was closely watched in many African capitals — and by Islamist insurgent groups on the continent.
French President Emmanuel Macron announced in July that the 5,000-strong troop presence in the Sahel — known as Operation Barkhane — would end in the first quarter of 2022. Despite putting a timeline on the end of the main military operation, Macron insisted that France was not withdrawing entirely from its former colonial territories.MaliThe U.S. and other European nations had also begun withdrawing from the Sahel and other hotspots prior to the fall of the Afghan government.
"Look at training and recruitment. At the moment, most of the jihadi groups in Africa are mostly about Africa. There are not too many foreign pilgrims coming in from elsewhere," he said.and found that a majority came from Tanzania, Comoros, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the rest of the immediate region, Vines explained.
"Where I think there is a lot of influence is in the early stages of radicalization, where foreign recruiters are very influential and very dangerous," he said, adding that the internet continues to be a source of "toxicity that can have a lot of influence to put people onto jihadi pathways."Vines noted that while international intervention led by Rwanda has put Islamist insurgents on the backfoot in Mozambique, U.S.
After domestic political pressure, France has taken steps to shift its engagement in the Sahel from a unilateral to multilateral approach. It has established, for examplethe Takuba Task Force, which will focus on the region bordering Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger. Takuba aims to assist regional security forces in joint operations and offer a rapid response capacity, while conducting direct operations against militant groups.