A key lawmaker is seeking to codify a long-standing US counterterrorism program in North Africa to fight the spread of the Islamic State (IS) and other militant groups as they fan out across the continent.
The bill put forward this month by House Homeland Security Chair Michael McCaul, R-Texas, would formally establish the Trans-Sahara Counterterrorism Partnership as an interagency program under the purview of the State Department. The 13-year-old cooperative effort between US civilian and military agencies helps countries such as Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria improve and coordinate their counterterrorism efforts.
