U.S. Somalia will withdraw an estimated 700 troops in the next few months, the latest in a series of brief notices ordered by Donald Trump to power in the past few weeks.
A Pentagon statement Friday said some troops would be relocated to neighboring countries while others said how many would leave the area at once.
“The U.S. Not withdrawn or scattered from Africa. Through the full approach of the government we are committed to our African partners and tolerant support. “When the pressure posture changes, this action is a step in the right direction. There is no change in policy. We will continue to decimate violent extremist organizations that may threaten our homeland while ensuring that we maintain our strategic advantage in the competition for great power. “
The decision sparked outrage among some Somalis on Saturday, who called on the incoming US president to reverse the decision.
“The US decision to withdraw troops from Somalia at this crucial stage in the successful fight against al-Shabab and its global terrorist network is highly regrettable,” Somali Senator Ayub Ismail Youssef said in a statement. Al-Shabab uprising.
Yousef, a member of Somalia’s Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the U.S. was committed to training and operational effectiveness of Somali soldiers. Soldiers have made a great contribution and made a great impact on it.
He has also criticized US President-elect Joe Biden for criticizing the decision. The Somali government could not immediately be reached for comment as soon as possible on Saturday’s decision.
Most U.S. troops are in Somalia to train the country’s special forces unit Danab to fight al-Shabab extremists.
If the withdrawal is permanent, “there will be a big toll on counter-terrorism efforts,” said Colonel Ahmed Abdullahi Sheikh, who served three years as a monster commander until 2019.
He fought with U.S. forces, and said, and two Americans and a hundred of his own men died during his command. He said both the US and Somali forces opposed the withdrawal.
The announcement comes a month after a CIA officer was killed during a failed raid targeting an al-Shabab bomber. But the withdrawal order also sits close compared to Trump’s lame duck period. A few days before Biden entered the White House, he ordered that pressure levels in each country, Afghanistan and Iraq, be reduced to 2,500 by mid-January.
Analysts have suggested that the main purpose of claiming to have fulfilled their campaign promise to end America’s “endless wars” is to do so, while leaving its successor the disastrous consequences of rapid withdrawal.
Tracia Bacon, an expert in Somalia and a former counterterrorism expert, now an associate professor, sees al-Shabab as a victory for the U.S., a key step in its goal of expelling foreign troops from Somalia and capturing control of Somalia. At the university. “The US pullout will particularly block Danab, the most effective Somali force against al-Shabab due to US support.”
“This is a decision that will be left to the incoming administration as a clown, rather than being made in the last days.”
Jim Langevin, the Democratic chairman of the House Committee on Intelligence and Emerging Threats, called the move a “surrender to al Qaeda and a gift to China.”
Benjamin Friedman, policy director at Defense Priorities Thinktank, welcomed the move as a step in the right direction to reduce U.S. exposure abroad.
Friedman said the Somali government appears to be moving away from wider efforts to fight a more focused counter-terrorism mission against al-Shabab. “But change is not a step towards ending American military involvement in Somalia’s civil war.”
