Losing ground: Somalia and Mali’s jihad problem

The US is losing leverage in Somalia — and may be about to repeat the mistake in Mali. Bill Roggio and Caleb Weiss, a Long War Journal editor and a senior analyst at the Bridgeway Foundation, break down why Washington’s frustration with Mogadishu is putting critical African Union support at risk, what that means for Al Shabaab’s grip on southern Somalia, and whether Puntland and Emirati-backed forces can hold the line without it.

They also discuss Mali, where renewed US airstrikes against JNIM raise a familiar question: what do strikes accomplish without a ground strategy or political reform? Bill and Caleb trace the pattern across the Sahel before tackling the bigger debate over whether Al Qaeda is dead or everywhere, and why our visibility into the network may be at an all-time low