I hate to break the news to you, but Mali has been used by Islamist militants, including al-Qaeda affiliates such as AQIM, as a safe haven since they took over Northern Mali last year. AQIM and other AQ affiliates are using it as a staging ground to not only wage their jihad in Mali, but also in places like Libya (Benghazi attack), Tunisia, Egypt, etc. This is probably the best moves the west can make as we cannot afford to have another "Afghanistan" on our hands. The north part of Mali needs to be taken back, and I'm glad that France, and soon ECOWAS, has taken the initiative. I hope the United States does what we promised and we provide both drone support and intelligence.