According to New York Times U.S. troops to be deployed in Somalia.
The U.S. military will once again deploy hundreds of Special Operations forces inside Somalia, a decision by President Biden that will largely reverse Donald Trump’s withdrawal of nearly all 700 ground troops who had been stationed there.
Biden also approved a Pentagon request for standing authority to target about a dozen suspected leaders of the Somali terrorist group Al Shabab, officials said. Together, the decisions will revive an open-ended American counterterrorism operation that has amounted to a slow-burn war through three administrations.
The number of troops to be deployed is expected to be capped at around 450, replacing a system in which members of the U.S. military made short stays to train and advise Somali and African Union forces. The Biden administration’s strategy intends to suppress Al Shabab’s ability to plot and carry out complicated operations.
Al Shabab: Intelligence officials estimate that the group, which formally pledged allegiance to Al Qaeda in 2012, has about 5,000 to 10,000 members. It has sought to impose its extremist version of Islam on the chaotic country in the Horn of Africa.
