Quagmire  Western states seem to so often be willing to get involved in conflicts without thinking about how to get out of them. Interventions are difficult operations that need a lot of planning and the United Nations has previously said that in the case of Mali "Nothing could be done before September, October," and there should be diplomatic talks and a rebuilding of the Malian army first. [1] Unless there is a clear exit plan then there is the risk that the conflict in Mali will turn into a Quagmire from which French and other Western forces cannot easily extradite themselves.  The conflict has not resulted in many French casualties although they did have a helicopter shot down. [2] However there is still a question of how long France will have to keep a military presence in the country. The French initially said they would be pulling troops out in March; [3] the first troops did not leave until May. They said they would only have 1000 there by the end of the year [4] but in January 2014 still had 2500. [5]  [1] Irish, John, ‘No military intervention in Mali before September: U.N. peacekeeping chief’, Reuters, 5 December 2012,   [2] Chrisafis, Angelique, ‘Mali: high stakes in ‘Hollande’s war’’, The Guardian, 13 January 2013,   [3] Schofield, Hugh, ‘France action in Mali is real war, says Le Drian’, BBC News, 6 February 2013,   [4] BBC News, ‘Mali crisis: French troops begin withdrawal’, 9 April 2013,   [5] Al Jazeera Staff, ‘Interactive: Mali Speaks’, Al Jazeera, 21 January 2013,