LE FIGARO.- France is currently immersed in an existential discussion on the relevance of Operation Barkhane in the Sahel and the need to readjust its system.
Is she asking herself the right questions?
Stephen SMITH: Yes, although late.
In the euphoria of the initial successes of Operation Serval, France first lost its way by expanding, ten months after its intervention in Mali, its mission to a large part of the Sahel as part of Operation Barkhane.
She has forgotten where she was, going from a punch operation - a rezzou in the Sahelian warrior tradition - to a military campaign aimed at "building in the sand".
For six years, she then exhausted her strength in the vastness of an area of operation of more than 4 million square kilometers, almost eight times the size of mainland France!
She also got the wrong mission: she no longer fought in the Sahel but for the Sahel - a sin of pride in view of the challenges of this region.
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