| Hat tip 3dc. |
U.S. drone strikes are expected to continue in Somalia against al-Shabab and IS fighters from neighboring Djibouti and Kenya
— Vic Ferrari (@MastahShred) December 4, 2020
Trump to withdraw most troops from Somalia as part of global pullback
[Jpost] The mission has received little attention in the United States, but is considered a cornerstone of the Pentagon's global efforts to combat al Qaeda.
President Donald Trump
...The tack in the backside of the Democratic Party...
has ordered the withdrawal of most American troops from Somalia, the Pentagon said on Friday, part of a global pullback by the Republican president before he leaves office next month that will also see him drawdown forces in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The United States has about 700 troops in Somalia focused on helping local forces defeat the al Qaeda-linked al-Shabaab
...... the personification of Somali state failure...
insurgency. The mission has received little attention in the United States, but has been considered a cornerstone of the Pentagon's global efforts to combat al Qaeda.
In a statement, the Pentagon sought to play down the implications of a withdrawal that experts have said could undermine security in Somalia.
"While a change in force posture, this action is not a change in U.S. policy," the Pentagon said.
"The U.S. will retain the capability to conduct targeted counterterrorism operations in Somalia, and collect early warnings and indicators regarding threats to the homeland."
The United States already pulled out of Somalia's cities of Bossaso and Galkayo earlier this year. As of last month, U.S. troops were still in the southern port city of Kismayo
...a port city in the southern Lower Juba province of Somalia, at the extreme southern end of the country (always assuming Somalia can be called a country). It is the commercial capital of the autonomous Jubaland region....
, Baledogle airbase in the Lower Shabelle region, and in the capital Mogadishu.
The Pentagon statement, which was unsigned, said an unspecified number of forces in Somalia would be moved to neighboring countries, allowing them to carry out cross-border operations, it said. Others would be reassigned outside East Africa.
Somalia has been riven by civil war since the early 1990s, but over the past decade an African Union
...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful...
-backed peacekeeping force and U.S. troops have clawed back control of Mogadishu and large swathes of the country from al-Shabaab.
A U.S. defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity
... for fear of being murdered...
, said those U.S. troops remaining in Somalia would be based in the capital.
It is the third major withdrawal since Trump installed acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller, a former Green Beret and counterterrorism official, at the Pentagon after losing the presidential election to Democrat Joe
Foreign Policy Whiz KidBiden
...Candidate for president in 2020. I had the great honor of being arrested with our UN Ambassador on the streets of Soweto, trying to get to see him on Robbens Island...
The U.S. defense official said the withdrawal was ordered to be completed by Jan. 15 -- the same deadlines for drawdowns in Afghanistan and Iraq.