The National Interest is the latest international publication to focus on the Polisario Front's alleged ties to terrorism. Its article comes just days after the Spanish daily La Vanguardia examined the group's dangerous connections with extremist networks operating in the Sahel. Is an independent Western Sahara under the governance of the Polisario Front a viable option ? This is the question explored by The National Interest in an analysis by Ahmad Sharawi. «Whatever your position on national independence in general, in this instance, Morocco is all that is standing in the way of Western Sahara becoming home to a jihadi government», he argues. This viewpoint is shared by several countries, including the United Kingdom, the United States, France, and Israel. Even Syria, once an ally of the Polisario Front, has recently expelled the group from its territory, according to the American publication. In contrast, the Polisario's main supporters remain Algeria and Iran. «With friends like that», the article contends, «it's clear that the Polisario Front shouldn't be given an entire nation as a base of operations». «Once seen as a secular nationalist movement, the Polisario has, in recent years, aligned itself with some of the most radical actors in the region», the article continues. While it was originally shaped by Marxist ideology and backed by Cuba and Gaddafi's Libya, that legacy has given way to a far more troubling reality. The Tindouf camps are now described as «a breeding ground for jihadist recruitment and a nexus for extremist networks operating across the Sahel». Ties to Iran and Hezbollah «The group's ties to extremism are well documented», Sharawi writes. Adnan Abu al-Walid al-Sahrawi, a former Polisario fighter, went on to lead the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS) before being eliminated by French forces in Mali in 2021. In 2008, the Fath al-Andalus terrorist cell emerged from the Tindouf camps, followed in 2009 by the group Khilafah, which pledged allegiance to ISIS. A report by German intelligence services concluded that «ISIS and al-Qaeda operate freely in the Tindouf camps and the broader Sahel-Sahara region», according to The National Interest. The article also recalls that the German newspaper Die Welt exposed direct links between the Polisario Front and Hezbollah, supported by Iran—most notably through intercepted calls between Mohamed Lamine El Kattab, the Polisario's liaison in Syria, and a Hezbollah operative. As media coverage of the Polisario's alleged ties to extremist groups has intensified in recent months, it's worth noting that concerns over the movement's direction are not new. Spanish diplomat Máximo Cajal (1935–2014) had already raised red flags in 2010. In an article for El País, he warned against the creation of an independent state in the Sahara led by the Polisario. «What would be the consequences for the region if an independent country were created under the control of the Polisario—effectively under Algerian control?» asked the former ambassador and advisor to Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. «Western Sahara has never harbored the foundations of a functioning state, and its nomadic, secular population has never constituted a cohesive people. An independent Sahara would not be viable. It would eventually become another fragile state», he warned.
