{"id":1068,"date":"2020-12-05T00:35:06","date_gmt":"2020-12-05T00:35:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiofree.org\/?p=132870"},"modified":"2020-12-05T00:35:06","modified_gmt":"2020-12-05T00:35:06","slug":"pentagon-says-almost-all-us-troops-to-leave-somalia-but-military-operations-will-continue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2020\/12\/05\/pentagon-says-almost-all-us-troops-to-leave-somalia-but-military-operations-will-continue\/","title":{"rendered":"Pentagon Says Almost All US Troops to Leave Somalia\u2014But Military Operations Will Continue"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In a widely anticipated<\/a> move, President Donald Trump has ordered almost all 700 U.S. troops deployed to Somalia withdrawn from the East African nation by early next year, the U.S. Department of Defense announced<\/a> Friday afternoon. <\/p>\n

According to the Pentagon, “this action is not a change in U.S. policy.”<\/p>\n

Military action will continue, it said, in service of defeating militant extremists and ensuring a U.S. “strategic advantage in great power competition.” <\/p>\n

Somalia has suffered from U.S. drone and other airstrikes, as well as ground raids by mostly Special Forces troops, since 2007, when former President George W. Bush expanded the so-called War on Terror to include the war-ravaged nation.<\/p>\n

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If the goal is to reduce unnecessary war and improve U.S.-Africa policy outcomes, then the U.S. must leverage every tool in its statecraft toolbox in order to do so. That means leading with diplomacy.<\/p>\n

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\u2014 Quincy Institute (@QuincyInst) December 4, 2020<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

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Both the air and ground operations have killed civilians. In July, Amnesty International said<\/a> the U.S. has “carried out at least 189 air strikes in Somalia since 2017,” and that “in just nine of those airstrikes\u2026 21 civilians were killed and 11 others were injured.”<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, The Intercept<\/em> reported<\/a> that the U.K.-based monitor group Airwars has counted at least 71 and as many as 139 Somali civilians killed by U.S. strikes since 2007.<\/p>\n

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