Opinion

The French just gave us another lesson in how not to fight terrorism

William Drozdiak, a former Post foreign editor and correspondent, is a global fellow with the Wilson International Center for Scholars and the author of “The Last President of Europe: Emmanuel Macron’s Race to Revive France and Save the World.”

PARIS — The withdrawal of the last remaining French troops from Mali this month has inflicted a serious blow to Western military efforts to curtail a growing Islamist threat spreading across the Sahel region of Africa.