The Emergence of Al-Qaeda in Mali and Western Response

Tureg rebels posing for the shot

The Situation

Within the past couple of months, an Al-Qeada contingent has seized control of northern Mali, whose area of land is roughly the size of Texas, giving A.Q. a new base to operate in without the harassment of a stable government or U.S. backed force.

The question policy makers of NATO and the African nations are now asking themselves is, "How should we respond?" The U.S. is in the middle of trying to draw back its foreign presence and military spending, the European Union is facing an existential economic crisis, and Africa, well, is Africa. Each possible responder is caught in various problems of their own, delaying or preventing a proper response from happening.

The Economic Community of West Africa has already pledged to send in a 3,300 man task force, which won't be ready to be sent in for another year while military officers and politicians decide what their strategic goals are, amass logistical capability, and train the force.

In deliberation with these African leaders are France, who has given a fairly large amount of attention to the matter, and the United States. So far, the French have offered to the Malian military and West African force training, aerial, communications, and intelligence support. While the U.S. has been reported to offer intel gathering equipment and logistical support.

While all of this is great, especially the aerial support, it remains questionable wether or not this multinational force could accomplish the job. The framework for the operation is based upon the success the United States has had in Somali by backing its army and the African force operating there in their battle against Al-Shabab.

However, as Edward Cody and Sudarsan Raghavan note in the Washington Post, the Somalian's had neighbors more than willing to back them up. While the Economic Community of West Africa is hesitant at best, and disagrees on actual strategy. The African Union and Ethiopia contributed a combined total of 22,000 soldiers to help Somalia, who is/was facing an enemy numbering around 5,000-7,000. The insurgency is Mali is as large as 15,000 militants, which is completely outnumbering the 3,300 strong task force.

Northern Mali is in grey

Somalia

Plus, the United States offered a bunch of help in terms of air superiority with our drones. This aspect is one of the most crucial for me, because proper amounts of air support can truly win battles. While over exaggerated, Colonel Oumar Dao of the UMalian army had a point when he said, “Even if we had 1,000 soldiers, but with a big air component, it will solve the problem.”

What should be done?

1. Flex American Air Power

In 2001, Operation Crescent Wind was the American and British air operation in Afghanistan from October to December. During the highly successful op, over 6,000 taliban insurgents were killed in what I think is an extremely underrated operation of the Afghan war. 

Now, I understand that the extend to which the U.S. can operate is limited by the political and economic situation here at home, and that therefore the likelihood of a large air campaign is nonexistent, this does not necessarily mean that we cannot send some attack planes, helicopters, and UAV attack drones.

This proposed combined air task force could hypothetically turn the tide of the battle in favor of Mali, because the very nature of America's COIN strategy in Afghanistan lied within the utilization of various air assets. This use of our air power is one of, if not the, largest contributor to American success in the country (Don't be fooled, I still think Afghanistan is still a questionable situation).

An MQ-9 Reaper drone in Nevada, USA

2. Give intelligence support

Without a doubt, the strongest intelligence force in the world is the United States of America. We have a bolstering 16 intelligence agency strong force within our arsenal, and the key to any counter insurgency is having a strong intelligence foundation. Otherwise, your force is likely going to be patrolling waywardly in the desert, hoping that they come across an enemy force by chance.

Therefore, we should sent a substantial intelligence contingent to provide the Malian and West African troops with a variety of signals, imagery, and human intelligence assets, capable of both collection and analyzation. Another worthwhile asset that could be useful is C.I., or counter intelligence. While the collection, analyzation, and dissemination of information among allied forces is no doubt crucial, another useful asset is spreading incorrect information among the enemy's ranks in order to hurt his operating capability. 

3. Provide logistics 

I forgot who said it, but it goes something along the lines of, "Good logistics will never win battles, but bad logistics will sure as hell lose them." Even though the infantryman is the backbone to any combat operation, the success of said infantryman comes from the ability to utilize him in the field--logistics. Thusly, the next crucial element for a victory against rebels in Mali is providing the force with an appropriate amount of ground and aerial logistics.

4. Provide training 

Next on the list is to provide the African and Malian troops the knowledge needed to fight. After 11 years of fighting two brutal insurgencies, the United States has enough experienced officers and NCOs to send for a combination of training and advisement.

In fact, the Marine Corps has a special team that is designed to train other nations. Special Purpose Marine Air Ground Task Forces have been extremely active within Africa since the emergence of Operation Enduring Freedom, providing hands on training to a host of various nations in the art of kick-ass combat. Most recently, I believe we sent a SP-MAGTF to assist soldiers who were getting ready to deploy against the L.R.A.

A Special Purpose Marine Air Ground Task Force member with
the Burundi Defense Force

Of course, some of the best advisors and trainers come from the elite SOCOM force. Most people don't know that SF and SOF are oftentimes embedded within native forces in order to train and fight with them. Most notably, the horseback riding soldiers and sailors who worked with the Northern Alliance in collapsing the Taliban regime. With the aid of air support, the Special Forces/N.A. duo managed to overthrow the incumbent government before ground force arrived for the action. Speaking of which...

5. Deploy SF/SOF to the country

As I mentioned above, Special Forces are malleable units that can conform to the environment that they're in. Through a combination of hands on action (Hollywood style, kick down the door, operations) and training of local forces, the SpecOp recipe for success has a large chance of working here.

These specialized units can give local and American commanders the knife like ability to conduct surgical raids to capture insurgent commanders or supporters that the African regulars are unable to do due to lack of equipment, motivation, and training. 

This surgical strike ability will augment the intelligence support I mentioned above, Special Forces are often utilized as a method to obtain intelligence. They have the soft touch to flatter locals, and the hard touch to get information out of captured militants.

6. Deploy an African Union contingent/increase the Economic Community of West Africa's force

A 3,300 man force is hardly the size needed to undertake such a daunting task, a large scale multinational force is going to be needed in order to accomplish the goals set forth by the political and military echelons. While I think that it's unrealistic to expect 25,000 soldiers, I think a request of 15,000 AU and ECoWA troops is staying within realistic levels. Furthermore, the AU force would likely be composed of many veterans of Somalia who have experience in fighting this kind of war, making the West's job of supporting them that much easier.

I think that taking these 6 measures will allow chance for victory, while still realizing the political constraints currently in place on the political level. Of course, while I primarily mentioned the US most of the time, French aid for the implementation of this plan will be essential for victory.

- Tom