In a widely-expected move, French President Emmanuel Macron announced a withdrawal of his forces from conflict-torn Mali on Thursday. Such a withdrawal would certainly represent a bitter end to a nine-year deployment and signal a failure of France’s overall counterinsurgency project in the region. But don’t expect a full departure, at least not yet. French action in Mali began as a quick mission (Operation Serval) to topple a jihadist proto-state, but then became bogged down as an open-ended counterterrorism mission(Operation Barkhane) confronting an interminable insurgency. Meanwhile, Mali’s …