I don't think it's making a 1:1 causal connection at all.

I'm sorry if this is impolite of me, but have you read the article itself?

The headline is unfortunately clickbaity and it seems to have attracted a few people who want to argue with what they think the headline alone implies about the US, but the subeditor who wrote it is not on the same page as the interviewee.

It's a pity, but I don't like editorialising titles for anything other than clarity. I might have to rethink that.

As far as the interview goes, if there is a correlative connection in there it's to do with the rise of terrorism in the Sahel region during the "war on terror" and obviously that has a lot to do with the militarization of enforcers for oil and mining companies.