The Islamic State in West Africa (ISWA) claimed a May 16 attack near Tongo Tongo, Niger, killing more than 20 soldiers not far from the Malian border. In March it issued a photo of its members in Burkina Faso and in April it claimed an attack on a militia in Mali. But, it is not clear that the ISWA group based primarily in Nigeria is behind those attacks. 

The name of the organization conjures association with the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, but caution is required. Evidence that the Islamic State of the Greater Sahara is somehow an extension of the Islamic State in the Middle East or even in Libya is sparse.

The American military presence in Niger is attracting increasing attention in the United States following an ambush that killed four American soldiers. The tone of President Donald Trump’s condolence…

At a December 2016 symposium entitled “Women’s Participation in Conflict Prevention and Resolution,” CFR hosted three panel discussions in Washington, DC, with government officials, civil society exp…

Gregory D. Johnsen, “Did an 8-Year-Old Spy for America?” The Atlantic, August 14, 2013. At the time of the meeting, the boy didn’t know that the United States had decided to kill a man named Adnan a…