Al-Qaeda is spreading in West Africa, specifically Mali. I was in Burkina Faso (just south of Mali) in 2008 and although there is a lot of Islamic penetration of this area, courtesy of Mr. Gadafi of Libya, it doesn't appear to go more than skin deep. The U.S. is generally liked, particularly for the AIDS work by President Bush. The people who live in the Sahara to the north, however, are tough and ruthless and if they are co-opted by Al-Qaeda they could cause real problems in the rest of West Africa. We already have special ops troops in Timbuktu and the forecast would seem to be for more.
Mali and Burkina Faso are among the poorest nations in the world and a little increase in aid wouldn't be a bad idea, particularly if directed to roads and infrastructure projects. The fight against terrorism is going to be a long haul in many parts of the world and will involve all the assets the U.S. has - economic, political, and military. If we ignore backwaters like this, as we recently learned with regard to Yemen and the Christmas underpants bomber, it can come back to bite us in a big way.
townhall.com/news/politics-elections/2010/03/01/al-qaida_growing_in_strength_and_numbers_in_africa
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