The Travel Ban Against Chad Puts American Security At Risk

Donna Patterson wrote for the Washington Post about the history of the US-Chad relationship and the travel ban's effect on it:

In a surprising move, citizens of the African nation of Chad were added to the United States entry ban on Sept. 24. Initial White House reports described Chad as failing to meet a “key risk criterion” and noted extremist activity near Chad’s borders.

This depiction was baffling because extremist activity in Chad is quite limited, existing at a much lower level than in some neighboring countries and other countries whose citizens are not included in the entry ban. Additionally, in the 1980s and again over the past decade, Chad has been a key player in the G5-Sahel initiative and similar counterterrorism activities, and it is a longtime political ally of the United States. Alienating the government of Chad risks promoting insecurity in parts of Central and West Africa as well as threatening the U.S. government’s anti-extremist initiatives and American security.