Stiffing an ally in Mali

THE TAKING of American hostages by Islamic militants who attacked a gas field in Algeria on Wednesday served to underline the reality that al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and the jihadist factions affiliated with it pose a direct threat to the United States. The group is active not just in Algeria and neighboring Libya — where it is believed to have played a role in the fatal attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi in September — but also in Mali, where militants have taken over territory the size of Texas and threatened to capture the rest of the country.

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