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Trump Places Chad on Travel Ban

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  • Chad-vs-Trump-pic-2.jpg
    The eight countries on the travel ban. Washington Post
  • Chad-vs-Trump-pic-1.jpg
    Picture of Chad President Idriss Deby waving to the crowd. qz.com

President Donald Trump has recently decided to keep his promise to the people of the United States and start making crucial changes to combat terrorism.

One of the most current actions he has taken is placing the African country Chad on the list of countries included in his travel ban. Foreign policy experts have been baffled as to why Trump would include Chad in this travel ban and leave out countries such as Sudan, as Chad has been cooperative and instrumental in the fight against extremist groups such as Isis-West, Al-Qaeda and Boko Haram.

In response to the many people questioning Trump’s decision, the Trump Administration responded by saying that Chad had failed to “adequately share public-safety and terrorism-related information” and that “several terrorist groups are active” in the country.

Richard Downie, Deputy Director of the Africa program at the Center for Strategic International Studies, said that these reasons are not distinguishable in the slightest and is “sure Chad is not the only country that is providing satisfactory information.”

These actions are undoubtedly insulting towards the government of Chad, and to single out Chad as one of the eight countries on the travel ban will most definitely affect an otherwise strong relationship between the Chad and the U.S.

Johns Creek senior Zachary Himmel said, “The placement of Chad on the travel ban is a direct slight that the government of Chad cannot ignore.” The Chadian government has responded to their country’s placement on the travel ban by saying that they were “baffled” and “astonished” as well as that this decision “severely tarnishes the image of Chad and the strong relationship between the two countries, particularly in the fight against terrorism.”

Placing Chad on this travel ban may have disastrous consequences, as Chad has been one of the key elements in fighting and preventing terrorism in Africa. Chad has provided the only continental force in the Trans-Saharan Counterterrorism Partnership (funded by the US) and has been providing troops to the United Nations Peacekeeping force in Mali. This grievance to the Chadian government may result in the government withdrawing from the Counterterrorism Partnership, which would be a critical loss to the U.S in the fight against terrorism.

The number of Chadians that travel to the United States is close to none, so one can only wonder if this action was just a way of demeaning Chad. If so, that would be a horrible mistake considering what Chad has done and continues to do in the war against terrorism. The possibility of them refusing to help the United States for damaging their reputation is high and would be at the cost of the U.S.

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