NPR

The U.S. Has No Clear Strategy For Africa. Here's Why It Really Needs One

The U.S. relies on a threat-focused approach, when the international community should also support economic and governance development in the region, argues the ex-special forces commander for Africa.
Senegalese Army Gen. Amadou Kane (left) receives the 2016 Flintlock flag from U.S. Army Gen. Donald Bolduc during the inauguration of a military base in Thiès, Senegal, in February 2016, during a three-week joint military exercise between African, U.S. and European troops known as Flintlock.

Retired Brig. Gen. Donald C. Bolduc served as commander of the U.S. Army's Special Operations Command Africa from April 2015 to June 2017.

Africa will soon be home to a quarter of the world's population. Unfortunately, the pace of economic development will not sustain its rapid population growth and will exacerbate already high rates of unemployment and poverty, which are key drivers of instability.

That instability is already a problem with ramifications not only for our African partners but also for international allies, U.S. interests and our homeland.

The tragic events in Niger last October — an ambush by ISIS-affiliated fighters that claimed the lives of four U.S. soldiers and four of the West African country's troops

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