{"id":48117,"date":"2020-02-27T21:45:48","date_gmt":"2020-02-27T21:45:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/uncategorized\/2020\/02\/27\/al-qaida-isis-affiliates-team-up-in-west-africa-says-us-special-operations-command-africa-leader\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T07:51:47","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T07:51:47","slug":"al-qaida-isis-affiliates-team-up-in-west-africa-says-us-special-operations-command-africa-leader","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/flashpoints\/2020\/02\/27\/al-qaida-isis-affiliates-team-up-in-west-africa-says-us-special-operations-command-africa-leader\/","title":{"rendered":"Al-Qaida, ISIS affiliates team up in West Africa, says US Special Operations Command Africa leader"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

THIES, Senegal \u2014 The only place in the world where fighters linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group are cooperating is in West Africa\u2019s sprawling Sahel region, giving the extremists greater depth as they push into new areas, according to the commander of the U.S. military\u2019s special operations forces in Africa. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI believe that if it\u2019s left unchecked it could very easily develop into a great threat to the West and the United States,\u201d U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Dagvin Anderson told The Associated Press in an interview this week. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The leader of U.S. Special Operations Command Africa described the threat even as the Pentagon considers reducing the U.S. military presence in Africa<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Experts have long worried about collaboration between al-Qaida and the Islamic State group. While the cooperation in the Sahel is not currently a direct threat to the U.S. or the West, \u201cit\u2019s very destabilizing to the region,\u201d Anderson said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He spoke on the sidelines of the U.S. military\u2019s annual counterterrorism exercise in West Africa<\/a>, currently the most active region for extremists on the continent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"U.S.
In this photograph taken Tuesday Feb. 25, 2020, U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Dagvin Anderson, commander of the U.S. military’s special forces in Africa, speaks to the Associated Press in Thies, Senegal. (Cheikh A.T Sy\/AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The alarming new collaboration in the Sahel between affiliates of al-Qaida and ISIS is a result of ethnic ties in the region that includes Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhereas in other parts of the world they have different objectives and a different point of view that tends to bring Islamic State and al-Qaida into conflict, here they\u2019re able to overcome that and work for a common purpose,\u201d Anderson said, emphasizing that it\u2019s a local phenomenon. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The cooperation allows the extremist groups to appeal to a wider audience in a largely rural region where government presence is sparse and frustration with unemployment is high. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The past year has seen a surge in deadly violence in the Sahel, with more than 2,600 people killed and more than half a million displaced in Burkina Faso alone. <\/p>\n\n\n\t