The United States has redeployed approximately 500 troops to Somalia to assist in the fight against the Islamist militant group al-Shabab, marking a significant shift in policy under President Joe Biden. The move reverses former President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw forces in December 2020, which had led to a surge in militant attacks.
According to the Africa Centre for Strategic Studies, al-Shabab attacks increased by 17% in the year following the US pull-out, rising from 1,771 to 2,072. Battles with security forces also rose by 32%. In a notable incident last month, around 450 al-Shabab fighters attacked an African Union base in southern Somalia, killing at least 40 Burundian soldiers.
The US Africa Command (Africom) describes the deployment as a 'small, persistent US military presence' focused on training, advising, and equipping Somali partner forces. US troops will also have standing authority to target about a dozen senior al-Shabab leaders through airstrikes, which previously disrupted the group's activities.
However, some Somalis express scepticism, citing civilian casualties from US drone strikes. Halima Ahmed, a university student whose father died in an al-Shabab suicide attack, said: 'Civilians have been killed in US airstrikes... Cutting the head off the snake will only produce more snakes.'
Coordination among Somali security forces remains a challenge, as multiple countries—including Turkey, the UAE, Qatar, the UK, and the EU—train and equip different units. This has led to a lack of cohesion and, in some cases, internal clashes, such as the December 2021 split in an American-trained counter-terrorism force in Puntland that left over 20 dead.
