I agree with your analysis
I agree with your analysis. The US is geared up to fight the last war (against Al Qaeda) not the present war.
On September 11, 2001, Nigeria was consumed by a massive spree of Christian vs Muslim violence. The West largely forgot about this in the build up to Afghanistan and Iraq.
Boko Haram is a continuation of a long war that predates the birth of Osam Bin Laden - the struggle between Evangelical Christianity and Fundamentalist Islam interspersed with poverty and inter-ethnic tensions. From where you live in the West, you label it "terrorism". We see it as an identity war.
From Ivory Coast, to Nigeria, to Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia. This war has been interpreted as a struggle between Islam and Christianity (and its supporters - i.e. the West). These Islamic fundamentalists look forward to fighting a modern day version of the Thirty Years Wars.
And the US might just grant them their wish by not reading the tea leaves correctly. Africa is full of fragile, failing states. The West needs to balance the risk of massive state failure across the Sahel with whatever benefits are to be gained from killing a few so-called "terrorists".
Once again, it's not your fight.
How Should the Nigerian Government Deal with the Boko Haram Terrorists?
According to a recent BBC report, the official policy of the Nigerian government toward the Boko Haram terrorist group is one of “carrot and stick.” A major requisite of such a policy is for the government and Boko Haram to set down together and attempt to understand each party’s position and work toward some sort of compromise. Yet, back on February 23 of this year the Chief of Defense Staff, Air Chief Marshal Oluseyi Petinrin, seemed to express quite another position when he said that the defense commanders would never share a negotiation table with Boko Haram leaders.
So what next?
See complete article at Terrorism In Africa.