A Somali government soldier walks next to a car damaged in an explosion near Al Mukaram Hotel in Mogadishu March 15, 2014. Credit: Reuters/Omar Faruk
Exclusive: U.S. Discloses Secret Somalia Military Presence, Up To 120 Troops -- Reuters
(Reuters) - U.S. military advisors have secretly operated in Somalia since around 2007 and Washington plans to deepen its security assistance to help the country fend off threats by Islamist militant group al Shabaab, U.S. officials said.
The comments are the first detailed public acknowledgement of a U.S. military presence in Somalia dating back since the U.S. administration of George W. Bush and add to other signs of a deepening U.S. commitment to Somalia's government, which the Obama administration recognized last year.
The deployments, consisting of up to 120 troops on the ground, go beyond the Pentagon's January announcement that it had sent a handful of advisors in October. That was seen at the time as the first assignment of U.S. troops to Somalia since 1993 when two U.S. helicopters were shot down and 18 American troops killed in the "Black Hawk Down" disaster.
Read more ....
My Comment: U.S. forces have been there for a along time .... I guess they want to expand this commitment .... hence the public acknowledgment of it right now.
No comments:
Post a Comment