US military planners focused on Mali intervention

WASHINGTON (AP) ? A State Department official says the United States has sent military planners to help a group of African nations launch an offensive to take back northern Mali from al-Qaida linked extremists.

Johnnie Carson, the assistant secretary for African affairs, insists that any military operation must be African-led. But the Pentagon is working with African countries to address the crisis.

Carson discussed the political, security and humanitarian challenges in Mali at a hearing Wednesday before a Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee.

Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb ? also known as AQIM ? is the best financed al-Qaida affiliate. It controls northern Mali ? an area the size of Texas.

The subcommittee chairman, Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware, said that makes it the largest territory controlled by Islamic extremists in the world.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2012-12-05-US-US-Mali/id-7ece6e58d2684f378760207830114b6d

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