[ad_1]
The United States will withdraw nearly all of its estimated 700 troops in Somalia in the coming months, the latest in a series of short-term withdrawals ordered by Donald Trump in his final weeks in power.
A Pentagon statement on Friday said some of the troops would be relocated to neighboring countries while others – he did not say how many – would leave the region entirely.
“The United States is not withdrawing or disengaging from Africa. We remain committed to our African partners and enduring support through a comprehensive approach to governance, “the statement said.” While it is a change in the attitude of the forces, this action is not a change in US policy. We will continue to degrade. the violent extremist organizations that could threaten our homeland, while ensuring that we maintain our strategic advantage in a great competition for power. “
Most of the US troops are in Somalia to train the Danab country’s special forces unit to fight al-Shabaab extremists.
The announcement comes a month after the death of a CIA officer during a failed raid on al-Shabaab bomb maker. But the withdrawal order also fits Trump’s lame period pattern. He also ordered that force levels in Afghanistan and Iraq be reduced to 2,500 in each country by mid-January, just days before Joe Biden entered the White House.
Analysts have suggested that the main reason is that they can claim to have kept the promise of his campaign to stop America’s “endless wars”, leaving the messy consequences of hasty withdrawals to his successor.
“Al-Shabaab will see the US withdrawal as a victory, a key step in its mission to expel foreign forces from Somalia and take control of Somalia,” said Tricia Bacon, former Somalia State Department and Counterterrorism expert. , now an associate professor at American University. “The US withdrawal will particularly hinder Danab, which was the most effective Somali force against al-Shabaab, in significant part due to US support.”
“This is a decision that would be prudently left to the incoming administration rather than made in the last days of the outgoing one,” Bacon said.
Jim Langevin, Democratic chairman of the House Subcommittee on Intelligence and Emerging Threats, denounced the withdrawal as “a surrender to al-Qaeda and a gift to China”.
Benjamin Friedman, the political director of the thinktank Defense Priorities, welcomed the move as a step in the right direction to reduce US exposure overseas.
“It appears to be a shift from a broader effort to fight on behalf of the Somali government against al-Shabaab to a more focused counter-terrorism mission,” Friedman said. “But the change is not necessarily a step towards ending American military involvement in Somalia’s civil war.”
Source link
