High-ranking military officers from the U.S. and its top African partners watched intently as dust and flames shot up from elements of the Sahara Desert struck by tank and artillery fire. They looked up as pilots scrambled F-16s into formation. And they heard intently as Moroccan and American personnel described how they would set up beachheads to protect the Atlantic coastline in the event of a potential terrorist incident.

The practice plan was among those discussed during Africa Lion, the United States’ biggest annual joint military exercise on the continent, which ended in Morocco. Over the past two weeks, approximately 8,100 military forces from nearly three dozen nations manoeuvred throughout Tunisia, Ghana, Senegal and Morocco as the domain of the war games held this year as militaries confront new challenges in increasingly volatile areas.

Generals from the United States and Morocco, which hosted the culmination of the two-week event, observed Africa Lion’s 20-year anniversary and how collaborations between the U.S. and African militaries have grown since it began. “This exercise has evolved over the years since 2004, not only have the number of international service members that we train with but also the size of the training as well, which has grown to more than just security,” stated General Michael Langley, the head of the United States Africa Command.

But despite the mess of live-fire demonstrations and laudatory remarks about teamwork by Langley and Colonel Major Fouad Gourani of Morocco’s Royal Armed Forces, parts of Africa are gaining much more dangerous. The United Nations earlier this year called Africa a “global hub for terrorism.” Fatalities linked to extremist groups have increased dramatically in the Sahel, the area that stretches from Mauritania to Chad.

Since 2020, military officers disappointed with their governments’ records of stemming violence have destroyed democratically elected governments in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger and started distancing themselves from Western powers. From 2021 to 2024, militants destroyed more than 17,000 people across the three countries, according to data from the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project. The United States is dedicated to its strategy of coupling weapons aid and intelligence sharing with initiatives designed to enable civilian populations and strengthen institutions.

But it faces a new contest. Decades after the end of colonialism, Africa has once also become absorbed in combating among Great Powers, with Western power waning and countries accepting more economic and military backing from Chinese firms and Russian contractors. At Africa Lion, the U.S. military showcased the domain of what it offers countries confronting instability inside and just beyond their borders. Besides tanks and bombers, the common exercises included operations and training in field hospitals, medical evacuations and humanitarian assistance.

The exercise highlighted a “whole of government” approach to addressing the root causes of instability, varying from climate change to displacement, rather than solely concentrating on military might. “It’s critical that we not only be associated with kicking down doors,” stated Colonel Kelly Togiola, a command surgeon who assisted set up a field hospital alongside Moroccan doctors as domain of the exercise. “In times of crises, those relationships that matter.”

Cameron Hudson, an Africa specialist at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, expressed that regardless of how much the U.S. military broadens its actions, its continued focus on counterterrorism will keep assigning military leaders throughout West Africa. “The nature of security contribution is that it’s much more visible, impactful and abused by the recipient for ill,” Hudson stated. “When we come in with training and toys, we reinforce within societies these power dynamics that in the long run are not helpful to the consolidation of civilian democratic rule.”