According to media reports, French forces have entered Mali to help Mali’s government repel rebels advancing toward the capital. Now French aircraft are targeting possible rebel bases outside the capital. The war is intensifying and the residents are bearing the brunt of the war. Some of them are migrating to neighboring Mauritania for safety and shelter.

Mali is a poor country and due to the ongoing war people are finding it hard to provide daily necessities of lives to their families. Every war brings casualties. French forces lost its first combat soldier immediately after the start of the war against rebels. Same day French secret agent also lost his life in Somalia after a failed rescue operation conducted by the French especial forces in Somalia.

Although French president assured that his forces would complete combat mission within a week but ground realities are different. As a matter of fact recent experiences in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan wars have proved that instead of solving problems and bringing stability, foreign intervention makes things worse in these countries.

Airstrikes also kill innocent people including women and children and foreign intervention provides more opportunities to rebel forces to use it intervention for their propaganda and hire more recruits to carry out their agenda. — Khwaja Umer Farroq, Jeddah