As Afghanistan comes under Taliban control, worries for African countries have risen. According toreports, Nigeria’s President, Major-General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) authored an article in the Financial Times of London, in which he said that with the Taliban taking charge of Afghanistan with the pulling out of the US troops, Africa will automatically become the 'new frontline of terror and global militancy.' Buhair called for immediate help not just from the US but the entire global community.
“Despite rising attacks across Africa in the past decade, international assistance has not followed in step. Mozambique is merely the latest African state in danger from terrorism,” he said.
Buhari further wrote that several countries are also facing domestic pressures after the pandemic. “Africa was not then, and even less now, their priority,” he said, adding that the threat however, cannot be ignored.
Experts said that it is not possible for African countries and their governments to weed out terrorism on their own.
Also read: Taliban wraps up war in Afghanistan, head for full political control
“The African countries and the leaders are aware of the challenges that terrorism bring about. They are ready to do the needful and deal with the problem but they do not have the required resources to fight this alone. Countries across the globe must come together to support Africa in dealing with this challenge,” Pradeep S Mehta, Secretary General, CUTS International told India Narrative.
While the world has been battling the Covid 19 pandemic, terrorism blossomed though restrictions and lockdowns have limited their movements and terror financing has been booming.
A recent United Nations report noted that Africa has been hit the most by terror related activities in the first half of 2021. While the US has pulled out of Afghanistan, the French military mission, present in West Africa, has also started withdrawing.
The BBC, last month in a report noted that “both the Islamic State group and its rivals in al-Qaeda have taken a strategic decision to make Africa their new priority.”
Recently, on Asaase radio, Ghana’s Information Minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah said, “I am sad to say that our security situation in West Africa is getting precarious. Terrorism and piracy are our biggest threats in West Africa.”
In fact, a report by the UN Security Council said that while overall terror-related instances remained “artificially” suppressed amid Covid due to stringent lockdowns, it warned that brutal attacks could be executed when restrictions ease. Not just that. These attacks may have been already planned in various locations, it said.
