Will Nigeria end up like Afghanistan? US doesn’t think so

Posted by News Express | 2 September 2021 | 775 times

•US Ambassador to Nigeria, Mary Leonard

Will Nigeria end up like Afghanistan in view of the activities of Boko Haram and ISWAP?

The United States of America does not think so. In fact, the world’s superpower has assured Nigeria that a repeat of what happened in Afghanistan won’t happen in the West Africa country.

The US Ambassador to Nigeria, Mary Leonard, gave the assurance on Monday August 30, 2021 during a meeting with journalists in Abuja.

The ambassador explained that Nigeria and Afghanistan’s situations are not the same.

Some Nigerians had recently warned President Muhammadu Buhari against a repeat of what happened in Afghanistan, where the Taliban took over the country.

They expressed fear that the situation in Afghanistan may serve as a morale booster for Boko Haram in Nigeria to take over the country.

After over 20 years, the US military announced the departure of the last US troops from Afghanistan on Monday, August 30, with the Taliban seizing control of the country.

US troops led a NATO coalition to eject the Taliban from power in 2001 after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States by Al-Qaeda, which was based in Afghanistan and protected by the Taliban.

Leonard noted that Nigeria has had a strong bilateral relationship with the US, saying that the situations are not the same.

While allaying fear that the US partnership with Nigeria might end up like that of Afghanistan, she added: “I hear people making the analogy with Afghanistan a lot, it does not match up.

“When you listen to what President Biden said on how troops went to Afghanistan in the first place, it was because they were in a horrible tragedy, over 3,000 Americans were killed.

“That is a different construct. The sovereign nations who have had strong bilateral relations. I don’t actually think the two match up,” the US Envoy said. (Adapted from a PUNCH report)