Ignoring Biden's Fallout in Africa

As a growing number of African countries devolve into chaos and seek alliances with countries opposed to US policy, the Biden administration is nowhere to be seen on the national stage. 

Just this week, military leaders in Gabon instigated a coup that ousted the country’s longtime leader. If you follow the news, you’ll notice this story sounds familiar. The exact same thing happened in the West African country of Niger that turned a historically American ally into chaos and fleeing to Russia for help. Earlier this year two Sudanese generals declared war on each other devolving one of the world’s poorest countries into civil war. Additional countries like the Central African Republic, Libya, and Mali have ignored the US and sought help from Russia’s Wagner military. 

It’s worthwhile noting that before Biden handed Afghanistan over to the Taliban, progressives at the State Department hoisted the rainbow flag over Kabul in a symbolic gesture that thoroughly infuriated small conservative nations around the world. Aside from the optics of turning our friends over to the terrorists, the Biden administration forgets that gestures like this do not sit well with many of the small African countries sitting on valuable oil and rare earth minerals. 

The result is many of these countries simply do not trust us. Instead of seeking help from the United States, a growing number of small, poor countries are running to Wagner for military support and China for shady loans. The outcome of this is important rare earth minerals and valuable drilling rights are turned over to our direct adversaries like China and Russia while the United States is left sitting on the sideline.

While most people generally ignore what happens on the world’s poorest continent, the consequences of the United States’ absence will leave us a weaker country that is more dependent on our adversaries.