‘US working to dismantle Boko Haram’

The Obama administration says the United States is dedicated to dismantling Boko Haram, a Takfiri group that kidnapped about 300 Nigerian schoolgirls in April.

The White House vowed in a statement on Tuesday that the US was working hard “to dismantle this murderous group,” which it said had abducted hundreds of men, women, girls and boys, and killed 3,000 people in Nigeria.

“President Obama has directed that the US government do everything it can to help the Nigerian government find and free the abducted girls and, more broadly, to combat Boko Haram in partnership with Nigeria, its neighbors, and other allies,” the White House said.

Commenting on the issue, US National Security Advisor Susan Rice said, “We have aided in the investigations, including by deploying personnel on the ground, facilitated strategic communications, and provided assistance to the families. … We will continue to work toward the release of all the girls who remain in captivity.”

Boko Haram — whose name means “Western education is forbidden” — says its goal is to overthrow the Nigerian government.

The leader of Boko Haram had threatened to sell the girls, who were undergoing Western education. “I abducted your girls. I will sell them in the market,” Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau said in a video message.

The kidnapping of girls sparked massive media coverage and dominated international media networks, but the story has almost faded since then.

Six months later, more than 60 of the girls have managed to escape and the rest remain missing.

In Nigeria, the parents of the abducted girls and their supporters have re-launched a campaign to draw world attention towards the issue.

A month after the kidnappings, American historian Randy Short told Press TV that the Central Intelligence Agency had created and funded the terrorist group.

Boko Haram “is a CIA-created and funded group,” Short said, adding the group’s “weapons come from Libya. We know that the commander of the so-called Libyan revolutionary forces, Mr. Khalifa Haftar was trained by the CIA.”

“There is larger scheme by the Angelo American white supremacist imperialistic power complex to break down the state they have invented in colonial eras for their purposes,” he said.

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