Unable to prevent Boko Haram jihadis from massing to overwhelm small units of Nigerian security forces, the Nigerian military has been hesitant to expose their forces to possible attack and defeat.
Now Boko Haram is taking advantage of that fear to seize ground to set up the Nigerian branch of the caliphate:
Fighters from the group, which has taken over several northeast towns and villages in recent weeks, stormed Gulak in the northern part of Adamawa state, near the hilly border with Cameroon where the militants are thought to have bases. ...
The Nigerian Sunni jihadist movement, whose name means "Western education is forbidden" and which has killed thousands since launching an uprising in 2009, is believed to be trying to mimic the example of the Islamic State (IS) in Syria and Iraq which has proclaimed its own separate caliphate there.
Nobody wants to the the last kid on the block without their own caliphate, these days.
But no worries, it isn't like they are "core al Qaeda" or anything. So they hardly count. That's what we've been told, right? Only core al Qaeda counts and since we dumped the body of the leader of that group into the sea it is mission accomplished, right?
Sadly, if that #bringbackourgirls Twitter campaign ever works (Remember that? It was once an outrage. Or are you all into the #icebucketchallenge now?), the girls might be brought back to a caliphate. That's hardly ideal, you must admit.
On the bright side, contrary to the notion that the war was responsibly ended, we will move drones closer to Nigeria's northeast where the jihadis dream of a caliphate:
The Pentagon is preparing to open a drone base in one of the remotest places on Earth: an ancient caravan crossroads in the middle of the Sahara.
After months of negotiations, the government of Niger, a landlocked West African nation, has authorized the U.S. military to fly unarmed drones from the mud-walled desert city of Agadez, according to Nigerien and U.S. officials.
That's much closer to Boko Haram. Which is good, because once again we have to kill the strong horse.
