“No change in policy” – VG

The US Department of Defense announced Friday that outgoing US President Donald Trump ordered the “majority” of US troops to leave Somalia.

The troops will depart on January 15, 2021, five days before Joe Biden takes office as president.

The news was first reported by Ryan Browne, a CNN security reporter, on Twitter.

The United States currently has just over 700 troops in the East African country. It will move to bases in Kenya and Djibouti, writes the Washington Post. Soldiers will be able to re-enter Somalia if the fight against the Islamist al-Shabaab dictates it.

The Pentagon, the United States Department of Defense, informs CNN that this is not a change in American policy.

Wants fewer soldiers abroad

Despite an order from the outgoing president, AfriCom, the US command in Africa, reports that tasks in Somalia have not changed.

“We will continue to support our partners through intelligence cooperation, training and episode-based missions,” they report.

This is not the only country from which Trump will withdraw US troops. In mid-November, CNN announced that the president will withdraw a total of 2,500 troops from Iraq and Afghanistan in mid-January. That’s a third of all US troops in the two countries.

The United States has kept troops in Afghanistan for nearly 20 years.

The news prompted NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg warn against a withdrawal.

– The price of leaving too early and uncoordinated can be very high, Stoltenberg said in a written statement.

Trump’s desire to withdraw from Afghanistan was met with opposition from his then Defense Secretary, Mark Esper. Esper was fired via Twitter shortly after.

The new US Defense Secretary Chris Miller supports Trump’s plan to withdraw troops from Somalia, according to the Washington Times.