Confronting al-Qaeda - Telegraph To date, the French military intervention in Mali can be judged to have been a success. More than a week into the campaign, the French have taken the historic city of Timbuktu without a shot being fired, and dispersed the groups of al-Qaeda fighters who only a few weeks ago were threatening to seize control of the country. There is still the possibility that French forces will encounter stiff resistance when they tackle the last rebel stronghold at Kidal, although the likelihood is that the insurgents will disappear into the desert to fight another day. But, as we have previously seen in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya, winning the war is the easy bit: bringing political stability to a war-ravaged country is immeasurably more difficult. The Government's decision to send 240 military personnel as part of an EU mission to train Malian and West African forces is a recognition that, unless such support is forthcoming, the region has little hope of keeping al-Qaeda militants at bay once the French have completed their mission and withdrawn their forces. With Britain already committed to supporting the operation with transport and intelligence-gathering aircraft, MPs understandably raised fears about the possibility of "mission creep" yesterday when Philip Hammond, the Defence Secretary, announced the deployment of the extra forces. MPs may be right to warn against Britain becoming involved in another Afghan-style intervention, but the West has little alternative other than to confront the al-Qaeda menace that has taken root in North Africa. Al-Qaeda likes nothing more than to exploit ungoverned space in failed states to plot attacks against the West, and it is in our national interest to help Mali and its neighbours to protect themselves against such an eventuality.