Trump's Administration To Help Algeria Maintain Stability In The Region

Washington Institute for Near East Policies predicted that the administration of US President Donald Trump “will do much to help Algeria maintain relative stability as one of the few North African countries that have generally avoided a slide in the current turmoil of the region”.

A study that was prepared by the prestigious American Institute, at the end of April, dealt with the Algerian internal affairs and the relationship that will gather Algeria with Donald Trump.

U.S. Institute notes in its study entitled “Algeria’s Growing Security Problems” that was prepared by the researcher, Vish Sakhtivel, that some of the promising cooperation in counter terrorism were made since the September 11 attacks and considers the US-Algerian relations as particularly strong, but the Trump administration has several options to help the country fix its problems with extremism and terrorism. 

It presents the Flintlock military exercises as an opportunity to strengthen cooperation, as the three-week annual Flintlock military exercises are organized by the African Military Command in Africa “AFRICOM” and it includes sixteen regional countries that are important for such engagement.

“In view of the deteriorating conditions on the southern and eastern borders, Algeria is unstable and this will harm the US interests, as Algeria plays an important intermediary role in Mali, and remains an ally in the UN-led peace process in Libya, and helps train the Tunisian army to counter the growing danger of fatal terrorism”. 

In conclusion, it said: “It is important to note that Algeria has a lot of promising interests – and there are a lot of issues at stake – so that it is difficult for Washington to disengage from it”.

In economic cooperation, the source notes “With regard to economic support, Washington basically has existing programs to assist Algeria. The US Department of State’s Middle East Partnership Initiative, together with a group of US-funded NGOs, provides educational opportunities In the south, and established unemployment centers for professional life and facilitated cultural exchanges among young people between the north and south of the country, and although the increased funding for these efforts, it may not be possible in the light of the U.S. administration’s willingness to reduce the State Department’s budget, to reduce these fruitful programs in a wise step”.

“In recent months, terrorism has repeatedly dominated the news coverage of Egypt, Libya and Tunisia, and developments in neighboring Algeria have been less prominent”, said the institute, which is known as the US policy-making tool in the Arab region.