Commentary

The United States is in a global fight against Islamic extremism, illegal drugs, and their deadly nexus.

Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) are reemerging in Africa after losing many of their safe havens in Syria and Iraq. Their growth is fueled by narcotics trafficking, including cocaine through Venezuela and by Russian-backed Libyans. Hezbollah, supported by Iran, also has links to South American drug cartels.

Narcoterrorism contributes to drug trafficking, which caused more than 105,000 U.S. and 8,000 European drug overdose deaths in 2023. The two leading causes of overdose deaths are illegal fentanyl and cocaine. Most precursors for the former come from China, and most of the latter originate in Colombia. ISIS specializes in an amphetamine called Captagon.

Today, almost 80 percent of the Islamic State’s narcotics and terror operations take place in Africa. They are joined by numerous al-Qaeda militants. Al-Qaeda controls territory across the African Sahel, from the West African coast to the Red Sea. This is the semi-arid part of Africa that divides the Saharan deserts of the north from the savannah of central Africa. From the Sahel, the jihadists seek to establish a caliphate that would eventually impose Islamic law globally. It’s a pipe dream of the worst kind, and one that has been deadly to democracy and human rights for half a century.

The jihadists believe in fostering homegrown terrorists to commit atrocities in places like the United States and Europe. These atrocities include the export of deadly drugs, setting up freedom-loving countries for major battles from South America to Africa. In Nigeria, there are up to 7,000 jihadists, with as many as 1,500 free in Syria and Iraq. There are 2,500 in the Sahel. The network is global, with links to terrorists and traffickers in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The regime in China reportedly engages with gangs and terrorists in Burma (Myanmar). Beijing has links to methamphetamine labs there.

From Venezuela, at least one drug flight a week travels to West Africa, enabled by corrupt air traffic controllers. Last year, for example, two private jets took off from Venezuela and landed in Guinea-Bissau in West Africa. One of the jets was seized by authorities there. It had 2.6 tons of cocaine onboard. The flight was headed for Mali, where its onward sale to Europe funds al-Qaeda. The other jet landed in Burkina Faso. Both Guinea-Bissau and Burkina Faso are plagued by narco-terrorists.

Between Oct. 1 and Nov. 6, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) conducted more than 22 operations against ISIS in Syria. There are 8,400 Islamic State militants in prisons across that country. The prisoners hail from 70 countries. Another approximately 30,000 Islamic State supporters, wives, and children are imprisoned along with their militant husbands and fathers. ISIS is trying to infiltrate these prisons and break its militants out, which significantly adds to the global threat. Admiral Brad Cooper, who leads CENTCOM, calls the Syrian detainee camps “incubators for radicalization.”

This year, the U.S. military has conducted more than 100 airstrikes in Somalia against ISIS and al-Qaeda (including its affiliate al-Shabab). That’s a tenfold increase over last year. In the latest U.S. strike on Nov. 25, U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) hit ISIS in Somalia. The strike was coordinated with the local government. MQ-9 Reaper drones hit first, with a follow-up involving 10 helicopters. Nevertheless, the United States is not keeping up due to political fragmentation in the country.

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