Base in Afghanistan
Base in AfghanistaniStock
It is Le Monde that tells us what is happening in those countries.

"In Burkina Faso one third of the territory is out of control, compared to more than two thirds of Mali. In northern Burkina Faso, many villagers disappear at night to be 'judged'.

"'They take those who do not respect Sharia law, whip them and release them after a few days,' testifies a resident of Djibo. Suspected thieves have their right hand amputated. In neighboring northern Mali, on May 2, ISIS cut off the right hand and left foot of three people in public at the market. A way to show civilians who is in charge in these abandoned lands.

"In the Sahel, more than 4,000 schools were closed due to threats at the end of 2020, depriving more than 700,000 students of education. Some saw the teacher, who refused to teach in Arabic, killed in front of their eyes ".

In Burkina Faso, days ago, there was the largest terrorist attack in its history: 170 dead. And a testimony to Doctors Without Borders gives one the chills: "Many are afraid to sleep in their beds and go into the woods." Because the terrorists in Solhan massacred during the night, when people were asleep.

This is the heart of the question for the West: should you go and fight 'Evil' at its source or stay at home and manage your daily life?". Until it gets to you...
A month after America announced its withdrawal from Afghanistan and seven years after Paris launched "Operation Barkhane" in Mali, France is also withdrawing. The jihadist threat has not been eradicated. Local armies proved ineffective. One has the impression of giving in to the terrorists. Because if the cost of military intervention is known and less and less tolerated, that of non-intervention is rarely mentioned. The birth in West Africa of an embryonic terrorist state, such as ISIS in Syria and Iraq. "If we leave, things could quickly degenerate and other states could fall," warned General Olivier de Bavinchove, former NATO chief of staff in Afghanistan and commander of the French forces.

A thousand French soldiers fell on average per day during the First World War. In comparison, the French operation in the Sahel calculates to 57 deaths in seven years ... "Today we would not be able to stay in the trenches," commented an officer. This progress is also a weakness. Because, on the contrary, the enemies of the West do not fear death, which, instead, they glorify. “We wage war without hatred. The adversary makes war while hating. This hatred increases their violence and their abilities tenfold. We are on two radically different planets ”, comments General de Bavinchove.

It is the best known Algerian writer, Kamel Daoud, who puts this bewilderment into words. “When you live in France, in the West in general, this is an ancillary question, between the reopening of bars or ecology,” writes Daoud in Le Point. "However, this is the heart of the question for the West: should you go and fight 'Evil' at its source or stay at home and manage your daily life?".

We begin to doubt the usefulness of this interventionism. “But also on the role of the West outside the West. At one time, the answer was easy: we 'went there' to 'civilize', convert, build, appropriate. Today terrorism dictates another reason: we 'go there' to prevent the birth of caliphates that will fuel the terrorism that will knock on the doors of the North, with more means, organization and areas of influence and recruitment ".

But the strategy no longer convinces. “It is the entire interventionist policy that is being questioned. Let's go back to the old philosophical question of the West which invented universalism and faith in the duties that accompany it and which, today, no longer knows what to do with it. We acclaim a victory over 'neo-colonization' by forgetting the future beheadings, we rejoice in a defeat of the West by closing our eyes on its own means of stabilization, we regret this withdrawal because it opens the doors to the caliphates. As in the north, we see in the south, in the possible departure of the French from the Sahel, and from the west in general, territories and limes, a liberation, a betrayal or a catastrophe ”.

According to specialists, something fundamental for the future is taking place in the Sahel (as in Afghanistan for the United States). “From France, the West and neighboring countries. It doesn't take an expert to understand that the 'Barkhane' question is a question we should all be asking in the North. In a palace or sitting on a terrace. The truth is that a sentry who observes the desert line at night is always in the best position to ask the biggest questions: the sentry sees the essential ”.

It is especially the Christians of those countries will pay the costs. Laurent Dabiré, bishop of Burkina Faso, yesterday to Aid to the Church in Need said: “People are asking: 'Who will be the next target?'. Just like everyone else in Burkina who is targeted by terrorism, Christians are overwhelmed with fear to. However, as Christians, they have more reason to fear a forced imposition of Islam. The attacks follow the logic of conquest ”.

Incomprehensible words in a West that for a year and a half has only been discussing the closure of restaurants.

Giulio Meotti is, an Italian journalist with Il Foglio, writes a twice-weekly column for Arutz Sheva. He is the author, in English, of the book "A New Shoah", that researched the personal stories of Israel's terror victims, published by Encounter and of "J'Accuse: the Vatican Against Israel" published by Mantua Books, in addition to books in Italian. His writing has appeared in publications, such as the Wall Street Journal, Gatestone, Frontpage and Commentary.