Removing some U.S. troops from Somalia seems a modest, prudent step

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
December 4, 2020
Contact: press@defensepriorities.org

WASHINGTON, DC—Today, The Wall Street Journal reported that President Trump ordered the Pentagon to withdraw “nearly all” of the U.S. troops in Somalia. Defense Priorities Policy Director Benjamin H. Friedman issued the following statement in response:

“The modest move to reduce the U.S. troop presence in Somalia is a good one. It seems to be a shift away from a broader effort to fight on behalf of the Somali government against Al-Shabaab to a more focused counterterrorism mission. But the change is not necessarily a step toward ending American military involvement in Somalia’s civil war. Nor is it a substitute for congressional oversight, which has been sadly lacking in 13 years of U.S. military involvement there.

“The nation’s two decades of seemingly endless counterterrorism wars show that staying until there are zero potential terrorists on the ground means never leaving. Staying until countries long-ravaged by civil war are stable means staying indefinitely.

“We need a more achievable measure of success, one that allows exit. The best counterterrorism policy is to accept some immutable instability, encourage local actors to take the fight to terrorist-linked groups and hopefully settle them, and maintain the capacity to strike terrorists that threaten Americans from distance if locals cannot manage them.”

Author

Benjamin
Friedman

Policy Director