After Terrorist Attack, US Triples Military Aid for Tunisia
The United States has announced plans to help Tunisia, the only country to have come out of the Arab Spring with a functioning democracy.
Reuters reports that the United States is set to triple its military aid commitment to the North African country. That increase will include more weapons, ammunition, equipment, and training for Tunisian security forces.
The decision to increase military aid comes as Libya continues to wallow in chaos brought about by the Arab Spring revolution in that country. There are fears that radical Islamists could use Libya as a base to launch attacks against Tunisia, or Libya's other neighbor, Egypt. Highlighting this fear is the fact that one component of the aid increase will involve the training of Tunisian border guards so they can better secure the border.
US aid will increase 200 percent from last year's $60 million, according to Reuters.
The aid increase comes a month after Tunisian Islamists launched an attack on the Bardo museum in the capital of Tunis. The site of priceless historic antiquities from ancient times became a bloodbath when gunmen stormed the museum and took hostages. After security forces raided the museum to free the hostages, 21 people were dead. Most of the dead were European tourists who had just disembarked from a cruise ship.
Although this attack garnered widespread media attention, it is not the first Islamist terrorist attack in Tunisia since the Arab Spring. A number of secular politicians have been attacked and killed by Islamists in an effort to influence Tunisia's political development.
