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In 2021, Michael Shurkin and Aneliese Bernard wrote “Ten Things the United States Should Do to Combat Terrorism in the Sahel,” where they argued that the United States should craft an effective counterterrorism strategy to address worsening jihadist violence in the region. In the wake of a changing geopolitical landscape in West Africa over the last few years, we invited Michael and Aneliese back to reflect on their article.Read more below:Image: Defense Department (Photo by Sgt. Steven Lewis)In your 2021 article, “Ten Things the United States Should Do to Combat Terrorism in the Sahel,” you pointed out the lack of a “broad, comprehensive” U.S. counter-terrorism strategy in Africa’s Sahel region — how has the U.S. strategy evolved, if at all, in the last three years?As far as I can tell, there is no strategy anymore. The previous one died when France got booted out of the Sahel. At this point, the United States, via the U.S. Agency for International Development and U.S. Africa Command, continues to run various assistance programs more out of inertia than anything else. The only real shift of note is one of focus to the so-called littorals, which refer to Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, and Togo, which now have a jihadist problem of their own, a spillover from Burkina Faso. The help the United States provides is small, and in any case, one has to wonder about the efficacy of any assistance after having largely written off Burkina Faso. Burkina Faso is dying. The jihadists are winning. Consequently, the threat from Burkina Faso to the littorals will only grow.There really is little interest in counter-terrorism in Washington, DC. U.S. Africa Command remains committed because it has a mandate to do so — and a budget to protect — but I strongly doubt the White House pays much