Trump plans to open war front in Nigeria

President Donald Trump has been whimsical and unpredictable in what he wants to do, especially on the foreign policy front. He has announced on Sunday that he was send troops or order air strikes in Nigeria, the 200-million Muslim country in west Africa, if the Nigerian government did not take action against extremist groups like Boko Haram.

Trump’s argument: If the Nigerian government cannot do it, America will go and do it. The Nigerian government has tactfully deflected the threat.

The Nigerian government said that Nigeria would welcome the American support to fight the terrorist groups as long as the United States respected the territorial integrity of Nigeria. It was also pointed by Nigeria that the Islamic extremist groups had killed more Muslims than Christians.  And the Nigerian leaders have reiterated the Nigerian position that the country did not discriminate between religious groups, between Christians and Muslims.

The Nigerian leadership did not display irritation or outrage over Trump’s threat. Nigeria has made it clear that they welcome the American military offer. It is indeed a strategic response.

The Nigerian government had been battling the extremist groups in the north, and it is having a tough time in keeping the terrorists at bay. And it is not averse to getting American military aid to fight the extremists. It is doubtful whether Trump or the American dense establishment would be interested in helping Nigeria to eliminate the terrorists. Trump is really looking over his shoulder to his Christian voter base in Middle America, which is also known as the Bible belt. The war in Nigeria would further strength his Christian voter base.

The catch in the situation however lies in the fact that once American troops step into Nigeria, they may not extricate themselves easily. Americans are not aware with African landscape, and they may get caught like they were caught in the jungles of Vietnam, the dry mountainous terrain in Afghanistan, or in the unfamiliar Iraqi territory.

Trump nor his military advisers are not unlikely to learn lessons from the past military disasters. Trump wears blinkers to pursue his political agenda. He is not devout Christian who believes that wherever in the world Christians are in danger they must be protected. Trump is interested only in strengthening his political base.

What is intriguing is Trump’s willingness to wage a war away from America, a policy he never favoured, at least in his first term. In his first term in — Jan 20, 2017-Jan 20, 2020 — he was critical of president Barack Obama and secretary of state Hillary Clinton for involving America in the Syrian war against the Bashar Assad government. It looks like that in his second term, he is looking out for opportunities where he can flex his military muscle as the commander-in-chief of the American forces. America still considers itself the strongest country in terms of armaments and force strength. It might indeed be far ahead of other countries in terms of sophisticated armaments. But amraments do not always win wars as American experience in Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq have shown.

There is the obvious irony that Trump who had cast himself in the role of a peace-maker, whether in the case of Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, or Azerbaijan and Armena, and his claim that he mad peace between India and Pakistan, a claim which India had vehemently denied, and the ceasefire in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, should now turn to the idea of fighting a war like a Crusader of old. There is more than the quixotic touch to the whole idea. He seems disappointed by the fact that he was not considered for the Nobel Peace Prize after the many peace-deals he had made so he turns to war.