US Strikes on Terror Targets in Nigeria are a Very Good Thing

For too long, the dominant framing of American engagement in Africa has swung between two unhelpful poles, the language of guilt on the one hand and the language of dependence on the other. Both feed a tired oppressor-victim narrative that reduces African states to objects of Western power or Western charity.

Targeted action by the United States (US) against Islamic terrorists helps break that framing and replaces it with a new narrative of sovereign partners fighting a common enemy posing a common threat to their respective citizens.

The predictable criticism of the American action by left-wing media and activists is a not surprising statement of contempt for the millions of African Christians who are traumatised by the rising jihadist threat in their communities and the tens of thousands who annually experience actual attacks, rapes, beheadings, and church burnings.

There is a deep moral clarity to the US strikes as the Islamic State (IS) represents an ideology at war with pluralism, faith, and the dignity of the individual. Confronting that threat alongside African partners signals a partnership anchored in the civilisational inheritance of Judeo-Christian values and the related ideas about the moral worth of the person and the duty to protect the innocent. That is not cultural imperialism. It is a declaration that some values are worth defending, and some forces deserve no accommodation.

Strikes on jihadists pillaging Africa’s Christians that are precise and tied to real co-operation will also restore a basic economic truth that has been obscured by years of leftist sanctimony in Western approaches to Africa. Security is the foundation on which economic progress rests. Where Islamic extremists entrench, investment retreats, and economic growth slows. Aid and handouts are no long-term solution to that. However, when the US helps roll back a terror network, it strengthens the space for markets and investment to function in overcoming poverty and dependency.

If Washington sustains this posture, continues military action against Jihadist terror groups, remains respectful of sovereignty, and confident about its moral purpose, it can help shape a healthier US-Africa narrative. Not patron and client, not oppressor and victim, but allies facing a common enemy and building a secure and prosperous future.