Executive Producer of the Pan-African podcast Panel 54, Martin Minns, has thrown his weight behind US President Donald Trump’s short-term targeted campaigns and closer cooperation with local authorities in the fight against terrorism.
In a statement endorsing the US Security Strategy for Africa, Minns described the approach as a sharp departure from past policies centred on long-term troop deployments and expansive nation-building efforts. He praised the new strategy for rejecting open-ended interventions and governance reconstruction in favour of a more focused counterterrorism model.
Minns said the strategy adopts a surgical approach to counterterrorism worldwide, emphasising targeted campaigns with clear timelines and specific objectives. Under this model, US troop deployments will be tied to definite targets aimed at eliminating threats, followed by swift withdrawal.
He explained: “In President Trump’s words, the policy marks ‘a return to commonsense and peace through strength’, while rebuilding bilateral counterterrorism relations with African governments.”
Citing the strategy’s two clear goals, Minns noted: “One goal is to ensure no jihadist groups can establish bases of operation enabling them to plot and execute attacks against the United States or any US interests globally.” The second goal, he said, is “to protect Christians from attack by jihadist groups.” He added that the strategy also broadens the definition of “terror merchants” to include drug cartels and left-wing “anarchists.”
The statement further highlighted that the US has directed its anti-terror operations in Africa primarily through US Africa Command (AFRICOM), based in Stuttgart, Germany. From there, it has supported the African Union forces in Somalia (AUSSOM) in collaboration with military forces from Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, and Djibouti through aerial raids backing ground operations against al-Shabaab.
US officials have also intensified collaboration with Sahelian countries Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger, which remain at the epicentre of extremist violence on the continent. Meanwhile, a recent surge of violence involving Russian mercenaries has prompted a renewal of ties with Washington. Warming relations have similarly been noted with Eritrea, given its strategic position in the Horn of Africa.
The strategy states: “We will continue to work together with governments threatened by groups like ISIS and al-Qaeda affiliates who threaten us as well, and assist them with actionable intelligence and CT partner-force development until our shared foes no longer pose a serious threat to either them or us.”
Outside Africa, the US policy accuses China, Russia, and Iran of sponsoring terrorism by aiding and abetting extremist groups in acquiring arms.
In Nigeria, security challenges have escalated sharply. In November 2025, President Bola Tinubu declared a nationwide security emergency following a wave of mass kidnappings that saw hundreds of schoolchildren abducted in a single week. In February this year, he deployed an army battalion to the Kaiama district in Kwara State after suspected jihadist fighters killed 170 people in an attack on Woro village on the border with Niger.
On March 17, triple suicide bombers believed to be Boko Haram militants killed 23 people and wounded more than 100 in a busy market in Maiduguri. Boko Haram and its rival, Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), have intensified attacks in northeastern Nigeria. Their insurgency has killed over 40,000 people and displaced around two million.
In February, The Economist reported that the United States had dispatched a counterterrorism team to Nigeria. Last week, Nigeria’s National Security Adviser, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, concluded a three-day working visit to Washington, where he held meetings with senior US officials, including Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
The official communiqué described the meetings as an opportunity to review Nigeria-US relations and strengthen collaboration in counterterrorism, defence, intelligence sharing, regional security, economic resilience, and democratic governance. Ribadu later emphasised the importance of sustained cooperation with the US and international partners to address security threats across West Africa and the Sahel.
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