Pentagon official: Trump's Somalia withdrawal 'probably' had 'significant downsides'
Source: The Hill
BY REBECCA KHEEL - 03/25/21 11:39 AM EDT
The Trump administration’s movement of most U.S. troops out of Somalia to other countries in Africa “probably” had “significant downsides,” a Pentagon official said Thursday.
“From my perspective, there is probably significant downsides to the pullout from the perspective of cost and effectiveness,” Christopher Maier, acting assistant secretary of Defense for special operations and low-Intensity conflict, told the Senate Armed Services Committee. “But that's my initial look, and this will have to be an interagency look.”
In the final months of his tenure, former President Trump ordered almost all of the 700 U.S. troops that were in Somalia to withdraw. The troops were in Somalia to help local security forces fight al Qaeda affiliate al Shabaab and the local ISIS affiliate.
At the time, the Pentagon insisted Trump’s order was “not a change in U.S. policy” and U.S. Africa Command held that troops “remain capable of striking al Shabaab at the time and place of our choosing—they should not test us.”
Read more: https://thehill.com/policy/defense/544902-pentagon-official-trumps-somalia-withdrawal-probably-had-significant-downsides
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