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Rabat – Dana Stroul, the US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Middle East, has welcomed Washington’s strong security, counterterrorism cooperation with Rabat.
Stroul made her remarks during a special online briefing on Monday, stressing Morocco’s efforts to address terrorism threats.
“Morocco is a critical partner, one that shares U.S. interests and objectives in countering violent extremism,” Stroul said.
She added that the North African country also shares the same objective to address security issues not only in the Sahel but across Africa.
“These areas that we maintain focus on and we partner not only with our partners but with the State Department and others to address it on a daily basis,” the US official added.
Hsi is not the first time for the US to recall the importance of cooperation between the two countries.
In March, a spokesperson from the US State Department echoed the same sentiment, noting that Morocco has demonstrated a “record leadership” to address security and ISIS threats.
Last year in September, Morocco and the US co-chaired the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS ministerial meeting in Marrakech.
“It was the first time a coalition ministerial meeting took place in Africa,” the spokesperson said, emphasizing that Morocco supports African partners’ security efforts through its role as co-chair of the Global Counterterrorism Forum and its role as a co-chair of the Global coalition to defeat ISIS.
In February, the US State Department made a similar assessment, recalling the “long history of strong” counterterrorism cooperation with Rabat.
“The Government of Morocco continued its comprehensive strategy that includes vigilant security measures, regional and international cooperation, and counter-radicalization policies,” the report said.
Africa, particularly the Sahel region, has over recent years faced security threats due to the presence of terror groups like ISIS and others affiliated to Al Qaeda.
Terrorism cost the continent’s economy an estimated $171 billion.
The Sahel and West Africa witnessed a total of 7,108 terrorist attacks in 2020, with more than 1.4 million displaced due to increasing clashes in the region.
Speaking on the security threats facing the continent, Morocco’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Nasser Bourita said in 2021 that 27 Africa-based entities are now on the UN Security Council sanctions list as terrorist groups. These groups were responsible for the deaths of 12,500 people in 2020, according to the top Moroccan diplomat.
Amid such an alarming surge in terrorist activities in Africa, security officials from Morocco have constantly emphasized the importance of a joint mechanism to address the situation, stressing the need for the involvement of all African countries and international partners to rise to both the lingering and emerging security threats.
