For over six decades, Chad was a crucial ally to French and US forces in their counter-insurgency operations in the Sahel. But both lost influence because of repeated mistakes.
The Sahel region is now regarded as the “epicentre of global terrorism”.
In our recent research, we argue that France and the US put their national interests and those of local elites first for decades, believing that stability could be maintained through military interventions. In doing so, they overlooked critical local factors such as history, religion, negotiations, and the needs of local populations.
