Trump’s travel ban on Chad makes absolutely no sense

It is hard to overstate the degree to which Chad is no softy on terrorism. President Trump’s travel ban for the country sends a chilling message to other nations: Even if you stand by the United States and the West — and spill blood to combat terrorists in the process — you still might end up on the president’s list of U.S. undesirables.

Few remember how hard-pressed France and the United States were in 2013 to find African nations willing and able to contribute effective combat troops to dislodge al-Qaeda affiliates from northern Mali. Yet despite the United States’ well-justified skepticism of African military capabilities, Chadian troops ended up spearheading the offensive to liberate northern Mali from terrorist rule after France launched “Operation Serval” that January. Having earned a reputation for possessing some of the best desert-warfare troops in the world, Chad then sent troops to northern Nigeria, where they were often considered more capable than the Nigerian military.