Biden to send US special forces to Somalia at war with Al-Shabaab
WASHINGTON, United States – A contingent of US military special forces could be sent to Somalia in the coming weeks, it has been learned, just weeks after former President Donald Trump withdrew soldiers serving in the war-torn country. war.
A proposal by President Joe Biden, which was seen by The New York Times, suggests the deployment of dozens of troops to Somalia, which has faced growing challenges in the fight against al-Shabaab, a group that still controls vast rural areas of central and southern Somalia.
But so far, the plan has yet to be officially presented to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, The New York Times reported. The main U.S. tabloid cited unnamed sources in the Pentagon who allegedly worked on the strategy as part of efforts to oppose al-Shabaab.
Since the withdrawal of nearly 700 US Africa Command troops from Somalia earlier this year, local forces have struggled to contain the militants, who can still carry out sporadic attacks from small to large scale. They only depend on the support of the African Union mission forces.
Somali government and opposition politicians opposed Trump’s move, arguing that “such a move would give al-Shabaab ground, thus eroding the gains made so far.” US troops were essential both in training Somali soldiers in addition to aerial surveillance and raiding assistance.
The Stuttgart-based US Africa Command did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the proposal. Although the troops have left Somalia, the US Africa Command continues to send surveillance teams to Somalia in turn to monitor the situation.
Since the withdrawal of US troops, there has been no notable airstrike in Somalia, but the US Africa Command has published two quarterly reports. It was these airstrikes, some fifty of them in 2020, that destroyed Al-Shabaab bases in Jilib in addition to killing notorious terrorists like Bashir Qorgab.
Yet despite years of strikes and US advisers supporting Somali forces, al-Shabab maintained a fighting force of several thousand guerrillas and was able to launch large-scale attacks against his partners and US troops. In January 2020, a US soldier and two defense contractors were killed when militants stormed a military compound in Kenya that was being used to carry out missions in neighboring Somalia.
Al-Shabaab militants in Somalia on Tuesday claimed responsibility for the attack on General Abdikarim Yusuf’s military base in Mogadishu, which left more than 20 dead and dozens injured among SNA recruits. But despite Al-Shabaab’s continued attack, SNA troops have also killed nearly 300 terrorists in Middle and Lower Shabelle in the past four weeks.
Kenya gets the same favor
Among Somalia’s neighbors that bore the brunt of the Al-Shabaab attack, Kenya tops the list. In fact, on January 5, 2020, Al-Shabaab attacked a US naval base in Manda, Kenya, where two contractors and a soldier died instantly.
And in line with the fight against Al-Shabaab across Somali borders, Biden has also authorized the dispatch of special forces to Kenya, a letter to Congress seen by Sunday Nation revealed, and the soldiers will work with their Kenyan counterparts. Their exact number is not known.
The US deployment is expected to bolster the security of Kenya, which has suffered deadly gun and bomb attacks from Al-Shabaab in recent years. The Somalia-based group is known to have supporters in Kenya.
Al-Shabaab attacks the Somali government and military targets, but occasionally launches high-profile assaults in neighboring states, including Kenya. North-eastern Kenya and parts of the coast have been particularly targeted by terrorists, but there have already been high-profile attacks in Nairobi, including Westgate Mall in 2013 and the DusitD2 complex in 2019.
Al-Shabaab has publicly declared its intention to carry out attacks in retaliation for Kenya’s counterterrorism operations in Somalia, which it is carrying out as part of the African Union mission. [Amisom] and perhaps emboldened following the announced withdrawal of US forces from Somalia last year.
After the withdrawal of American troops from Somalia, most of them were repositioned in Kenya and Djibouti, where the United States has many interests. Indeed, the main training center for American troops in Africa is domiciled in Djibouti, as are other emerging superpowers like China.
The new Biden administration, which has publicly asserted that it sees Kenya as a “strategic” partner in the fight against terrorism, has engaged in overturning many policies that had been deployed by Mr. Trump.
“In pursuing counterterrorism efforts, the United States continues to work with partners around the world, with particular emphasis on the areas of responsibility of the United States commands for Central Africa and the United States. ‘Africa,’ President Biden explained in his letter to the US Congress on Tuesday.
“In this context, the United States has deployed forces to conduct counterterrorism operations and to advise, assist and accompany the security forces of certain foreign partners in the context of counterterrorism operations … The armed forces of the United States are deployed in Kenya to support counterterrorism operations in East Africa.
Although Al-Shabaab’s presence is still huge in East Africa, the group has struggled with declining financial fortunes in addition to losing fighters either to security force operations or to cause of defections. The group wants to overthrow the fragile Somali administration backed by the UN.
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