The United States is gradually stiffening its stance toward the Polisario Front and its main backer Algeria, as congressional initiatives and diplomatic moves converge into a more assertive posture, according to developments outlined by lawmakers and officials.
At the heart of the shift is a renewed legislative drive to compel the administration to formally review designating the Polisario as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO).
The effort was launched in May 2025 by Republican Joe Wilson and Democrat Jimmy Panetta. The effort now gained momentum on Feb. 13 with the endorsement of representative Pat Harrigan, a former US Army Special Forces officer and member of the House Armed Services Committee.
His backing brings to seven the number of congressmen publicly aligned with the bill, alongside Wilson, Panetta, Mario Diaz-Balart, Jefferson Shreve, Randy Fine and Lance Gooden, with an eighth supporter expected, according to accounts cited in the text provided.
Harrigan’s profile, rooted in national security and defense, adds political weight to a cohort on Capitol Hill that frames the Polisario through a counterterrorism lens.
Parallel moves are emerging in the Senate with Republican Ted Cruz promising to introduce a companion proposal to classify the Polisario as a terrorist organization, and used recent hearings on North Africa and the Sahel to argue the movement is undergoing a “Houthi-fication,” noting operational ties with Iran, access to military technologies such as drones, and involvement in regional weapons pipelines.
The momentum underscores an intensifying campaign to redefine US policy parameters regarding Algeria’s destabilizing role in the region via the Polisario.
Pressure on Algeria is rising in tandem. In early-February Senate exchanges, Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen pressed US diplomats on Algeria’s continued large-scale purchases of Russian arms, procurements that could expose Algiers to US sanctions under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA).
Washington has also sent signals of dissatisfaction with Algiers with the appointment of Mark Schapiro as chargé d’affaires in Algiers from March 1, 2026, rather than a Senate-confirmed ambassador.
These moves are unfolding alongside a renewed diplomatic track to settle the Sahara issue on the basis of Morocco’s autonomy plan.
Talks held in Madrid on Feb. 8–9, under the aegis of the Trump administration, brought together Morocco, Algeria, the Polisario and Mauritania. In a recent interview with Deutsche Welle, Massad Boulos, President Trump’s special adviser for Africa and the Arab world, characterized UN Security Council Resolution 2797 as «historic» and explicitly cast Algeria as a direct party to the dispute.
