WHEN French troops planted their tan boots in the sands of Mali earlier this year, they faced not one but three problems in the west African nation. With the help of arms looted from Libyan depots, an alliance of Tuareg separatists had taken control of the north of the country. They were joined by jihadists linked to al-Qaeda and bent on establishing a ferociously Islamist state. In the meantime, the Malian army had crumbled during an officers’ coup, leading to the disintegration of a political system that had been more or less democratic for the past two decades.

What a difference six months can make. Ignoring warnings of a quagmire, François Hollande, the French president, dispatched 4,000 soldiers to rescue the country. They quickly secured northern Mali and dealt with the most immediate problems, many familiar from France’s long stint as the colonial master.

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