Terrorism spreading 'unabated' across Africa, US military commander warns

A high-ranking United States Army commander said that terrorism has spread "unabated" after years of work from western countries attempting to stop the spread of terrorism on the continent.

"Despite all of our best efforts, this terrorism continues to spread," commander of U.S. forces in Africa, General Stephen Townsend, said last week, according to Voice of America. "The spread of terrorism has continued relatively unabated."

Townsend mentioned several groups operating in Africa, such as ISIS linked groups in Sub Sahara Africa and Somalia-based al-Shabab, the 10,000-fighter strong terror group that Townsend called "the world's largest, best financed, most kinetically active arm of al-Qaida."

With the threat against countering Russia and China taking resources away from combating terrorism in Africa, Townsend said he and other U.S. commanders have "given our recommendations to our civilian leaders and we're waiting on them to make their judgments."