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By Momolu V.O. Sirleaf

The end of the Cold War witnessed a “disengagement policy” by the United States from Africa. However, September 11, 2001 dramatically changed US national security policy as the US and its allies are engaged in the Global War on Terror (GWOT). 

As a result, the Bush administration in 2002 National Security Strategy identified weak and failed states as the central threat to global security emanating from developing countries.  

Weapons proliferation, civil conflict, and terrorism present major threats to the US. Therefore, the US reengagement in Africa can not be overstated. This brings me to Liberia, a country which once failed under the regime of Charles Taylor, but is now on a transition to democracy after last month’s polls.  

Liberia, under Dictator Charles Taylor, became a rogue nation, which engaged in gun-running, money laundering, arms race in the West African sub-region and a possible haven for Osama Bin laden terrorist network. Washington Post’s correspondent Douglas Farah, in his book entitled “Blood from Stones: The Secret Financial Network of Terror”, unearthed ties between Charles Taylor, Sierra Leone’s notorious Revolutionary United Front and Al-Qaeda in the blood diamond trade. 

Liberia, after 1997 elections which saw of Charles Taylor sweeping the presidency, retreated to a bloody conflict in 2001. A World Bank report states that countries emerging from civil war face a 44% risk of returning to conflict within five years. Liberia became no exception.  

After states fail or become weak they can no longer protect their people from threats both internally and externally; they can’t deliver basic services like health, social, education to their citizens, etc. Therefore, weak and failed states pose the greatest threat to global security that obliges strong engagement to prevent them from failing or becoming weak. 

Once terrorists commandeered U.S. planes and slammed them into buildings on September 11, 2001, the mindset of the Cold War’s “Containment” Policy transformed the way the US looks at global security. The Global War on Terror (GWOT) calls for a National Security Strategy of prevention and sometimes preemptive doctrine at the last resort. 

If the US prevents states from failing, then terrorists will be denied the luxury of taking hold in developing countries, thus preventing a global security threat. 

Weapons proliferation, being one of the greatest threats that is faced by the U.S. makes fighting the global war on terror a very robust and concerted global initiatives. Terrorists and their supporters prey on weak and failed states (Afghanistan, Sudan, and Somalia) to establish their roots.  

The fall of the former Soviet Union probably may have left several loose nukes still unaccounted for. It is possible that a terrorist can lay hand on a nuclear warhead highly enriched with uranium from the former Soviet Union and transport it to a rogue or failed state and assemble it and later transport the material to the west to cause mass murders.  

After watching the film, “Last Best Chance”, which premiered on HBO recently, showed the hysterical efforts of a terrorist cell trying to get hold of a nuclear bomb and the race against time of a US President—played by former Republican Senator Fred Thompson—to halt the terrorists, leaves me with a conclusion that the global war on terror knows no borders. 

Produced by the non-partisan Nuclear Threat Initiative, the non-fiction movie demonstrated a real-life situation of a very careful thievery of highly enriched uranium from a nuclear research facility in South Africa.  

This drives home the point that the Global War on Terror calls for a sustained engagement, cooperation and collaboration among nations in order to stop the terrorists from striking again. This means working to prevent weak and failed states around the world and denying the terrorists the opportunity of establishing a haven. 

The best strategy in fighting terrorism in developing countries is to promote strong economic development, help ease poverty, assist with equality and democratic institutions. 

Elections are in no way the end of democracy, but the beginning of good governance, rule of law, strong reforms, transparency, accountability, etc . In sub-Saharan Africa, Liberia can be a template for fighting the war on terror by the U.S. helping to move democracy forward. Liberia is also significantly important to the US strategic interests in terms of its natural resources. 

Peace and stability in the West African sub-region is also crucial to the US interests.

And preventing states like Liberia from failing could be the US “First Best Chance” of stopping terrorists from wrecking havoc on the world.

About the Author:
MOMOLU SIRLEAF is a former Liberian journalist. He earned a BA degree from the National American University. He is a candidate for Masters of Public Affairs degree with a concentration in Foreign Policy and International Relations at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. He can be contacted at sirle002@umn.edu