The massacre at Niger’s Agadez airport, claiming 35 lives, is not merely a tragedy. It is a screaming verdict on the West’s abandonment of the Sahel. As jihadist groups tighten their grip from Mali to Chad, the ghost of Rome’s retreat from Germania looms.
We withdrew troops, closed embassies, and now we wonder why the barbarians are at the gate. British counter-terror expertise? Yes, urgently.
But let us not pretend this is about altruism. It is about protecting the thin line of order before the desert swallows Europe’s southern flank. The Victorians understood: you do not abandon a frontier without consequence.
We are reaping what we sowed—a harvest of blood and beheadings.
