Trump set to withdraw troops from Somalia as part of global pullback

WASHINGTON • President Donald Trump may withdraw nearly all American troops from Somalia as part of a global pullback that includes reductions of forces in Afghanistan and Iraq, US officials have said.

The officials said nothing had been finalised and that no orders for Somalia have been received by the US military.

But there appeared to be a growing expectation that drawdown orders would be coming soon.

The Pentagon on Tuesday announced that Mr Trump will reduce US forces in Afghanistan from 4,500 to 2,500 by Jan 15, just five days before his term ends, and cut US forces in Iraq by 500 to the same level.

The US has about 700 troops in Somalia focused on helping local forces defeat the Al-Qaeda-linked al Shabaab insurgency. The mission gets little attention in the US but is considered a cornerstone of the Pentagon's global efforts to combat Al-Qaeda.

Mr Trump's newly-installed Acting Defence Secretary Christopher Miller, a former Green Beret and counter-terrorism official, is taking a hard look at Somalia and could opt for keeping a minimal US troop presence there and stop relying on large deployments to combat al Shabaab.

Mr Nathan Sales, the State Department's counter-terrorism coordinator, on Tuesday declined to discuss plans for US forces in Somalia.

But he noted that al Shabaab poses a danger to East Africa's security and that the group has staged attacks in Kenya.

"Al Shabaab continues to pose a significant threat inside Somalia and increasingly in the region," Mr Sales told reporters while announcing the blacklisting of two of the group's leaders.

"The United States takes seriously our responsibilities to use what tools are available to us to rollback, degrade and defeat this dangerous terrorist group."

Critics say a radical change in US policy towards al Shabaab carries a significant risk.

Colonel Ahmed Abdullahi Sheikh, who served for three years as the commander of the Danab special forces until last year, said any decision to pull back would not be based on the counter-terrorism threat in Somalia but could undermine trust in the US.

"This is being dictated by politics," he said.

The US had already pulled out of Somalia's Bossaso and Galkayo around three weeks ago.

American troops remain in the southern port city of Kismayo, a special forces air base in Baledogle and in the capital Mogadishu, but a rapid pullout risks ceding ground to al Shabaab, Col Sheikh said.

"It would create a vacuum. The Somali security forces have good morale because of the US troops… there's the possibility of air support if they are attacked, they can have medevacs," Col Sheikh pointed out.

Somalia has been riven by civil war since 1991, but over the past decade, the African Union-backed peacekeeping force has clawed back control of the capital and large swathes of the country from al Shabaab.

REUTERS