H.R. 10195 — Mali Security Partnership and Counterterrorism Act

This section states findings that the al-Qaeda-linked group JNIM has expanded its reach across central Mali and the Sahel, conducting large-scale attacks, disrupting trade routes, and exploiting a security vacuum created by the withdrawal of international counterterrorism forces. It further finds that JNIM and the Islamic State Sahel Province have consolidated territorial control, making the region the global epicenter of terrorism-related violence with spillover risks to neighboring coastal countries.

This section requires the Secretary of State, in coordination with other federal agencies, to submit within 180 days a report to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on al-Qaeda’s territorial influence, cross-border operations with Burkina Faso and Niger, recruitment pipelines, financing through gold trafficking and coercive taxation, and trends in its expansion or consolidation in Mali. The report must also include a U.S. diplomatic strategy with proposed bilateral and multilateral initiatives, regional coordination efforts, and metrics to evaluate effectiveness against al-Qaeda’s influence.