The Daily Beast quotes Africa Center Director J. Peter Pham on Boko Haram’s recent losses and why they’re not yet defeated:
“We are not getting reports of large numbers of Boko Haram being captured. They kept their prisoners as long as they could, and the fighters are slinking away,” said J. Peter Pham, director of the Africa Center at the Washington-based Atlantic Council.
Moreover, Boko Haram’s declared allegiance to the self-proclaimed Islamic State could mean the Nigerian group’s leader, Abubakar Shekau, will be more receptive to outside funding and support. “They are still an insurgency. And they can evolve very quickly into a terrorist organization,” Pham said.