Washington Post: The future is African — and the United States is not prepared
Salih Booker, executive director, and Ari Rickman, research fellow, both at the Center for International Policy

“…[I]nstead of preparing to build a relationship that can grow with the continent, based upon diplomatic cooperation, the United States is doubling down on more than a decade of reliance on its military as the primary vehicle of engaging with Africa. The consequences, as one might expect, are overwhelmingly negative. … Africa’s rapid change … presents challenges that will not be contained within the continent. … [T]he United States’ relationship with the continent has, since 9/11, been increasingly defined by the militarization of U.S. foreign policy. … This growing military presence is displacing diplomacy. … [T]he military can’t be the foundation of U.S. relations with a rising Africa. … Simply put, the U.S. military is attempting to prepare African countries to fight an enemy they actually may not have … while the U.S. government is failing to help those same countries deal with the real killers — namely, poverty and corruption” (6/6).