A panel of experts discusses the changing security situation in Mali and the Sahel region and offers recommendations for U.S. foreign policy at the Atlantic Council.
French troops have retaken many of the cities in Northen Mali in recent days from the Islamic extremists who first occupied the region last year after secular Tuareg tribesmen routed the Malian government from the area.
The U.S. has offered strategic support to the French and African troops, but has refrained from military involvement. Concerns about the instability of the region after the French intervention ends has caused the U.N. to consider a peacekeeping mission, but no decisions have been made.