France's military withdrawal from Mali is no failure, says Macron

France's military withdrawal from Mali, where it has been fighting Islamist militants since 2013, does not constitute a failure in its mission, President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday.

"I completely reject this term," Macron told a press conference in Paris.

Macron said that at the time, Mali had requested France deploy troops to counter an Islamist insurgency that was headed towards the capital and in doing so had prevented the state from collapsing.

Reuters