On September 5, AFRICOM and Somali government troops conducted an airstrike on the Islamic group al-Shabaab in the Bay area in the southern part of the country. The Pentagon said it killed three terrorists. According to the Somali government, an earlier AFRICOM raid in the village of Bariire killed ten men and boys. It is yet unknown if the latest raid killed civilians.
Although Donald Trump promised to reduce US military interventionism abroad and said he eschews nation building, in April he authorized the deployment of troops to the embattled Horn of African nation, the first time since 1994.
Trump claims the policies of the Obama administration prevented the Pentagon from defeating al-Shabaab. This is clearly not the case. Barack Obama continued the policy of his predecessor in Africa. He authorized bombing operations, drone attacks, funding and training of the African Union Mission to Somalia (AMISOM), maintenance of a CIA field station in Mogadishu, and positioning of warships in the Gulf of Aden. [READ MORE]
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