Follow us on social

Us_forces_work_alongside_african_military_members-scaled

Biden's promise to end endless war hits a snag in Somalia

The US is reportedly redeploying troops with AFRICOM receiving a green light on drone strikes.

Analysis | Global Crises

In yet another indication that the Biden administration has no intention to bring an end to endless war, the New York Times reported on Monday that the U.S. Africa Command will be redeploying troops to Somalia, and that the White House has approved the Pentagon’s request for discretionary authority to conduct drone strikes in the country.

Somalia has been the target of imperial warfare since December 2006, when the U.S. backed an Ethiopian-led invasion that dislodged the first stable government that had emerged in years. As Ethiopian troops drove the Somali leadership into exile, more militant factions emerged in their place, planting the seeds for the growth of what is now known as al-Shabab. The State Department designated al-Shabab a foreign terrorist organization in February 2008, which provided cover for the Bush administration to begin targeting the group from the air.

Soon after President Obama assumed office in 2009, he authorized U.S. drone strikes as well as the deployment of Special Operations forces inside the country. Then, President Trump designated parts of Somalia as “areas of active hostilities” and instituted war-zone targeting rules when he expanded the discretionary authority of the military to conduct airstrikes and raids. Southern Somalia was then subjected to an unprecedented escalation of U.S. drone strikes, with approximately 900-1,000 people killed between 2016-2019. All of this occurred without the Untied States ever formally declaring a war on Somalia.

President Biden has clearly decided to maintain Trump’s “flexible” approach to drone warfare in Somalia — one that gives military commanders in the field more latitude to make decisions, requiring that they obtain consent from the State Department’s chief of mission rather than the White House. As such, analysts assessing the temporary lull in drone strikes last year were correct to interpret it as an artificial lull, as the Biden administration’s pledge to engage in a comprehensive review of the government’s policy on drone strikes clearly did not stimulate an ethical reconsideration of the use of drones.

What the Biden administration has done is draft new laws and procedures, offering safeguards against civilian bystander deaths that purport to provide protections for adult men as well as women and children. In this sense, the Biden administration is continuing prior administrations’ use of the law as a tactic of war, referring to the introduction of new laws and policies in order to suggest that the United States makes more of an effort to limit civilian casualties, even as it employs deadly force. As historian and law professor Samuel Moyn observes, the idea that war can somehow be fought humanelyhas become central to American liberalism, with fewer and fewer Americans questioning the decision to wage war itself.

In the meantime, racialized depictions of Somalia as a war-torn country with the alleged potential to threaten U.S. interests are instrumental in maintaining public support for renewed commitment to war. AFRICOM Commander General Stephen Townsend claims that al-Shabab is “bigger, stronger, and bolder,” even if its exact capabilities are “an open question.” What this assessment is based on is unclear. Just as U.S. officials did in the lead-up to the invasion of Iraq in 2003, AFRICOM’s strategy appears to be a simple one: repeat the claim of a purported threat often enough, and — absent critical questions from the press — it becomes truth.

In light of AFRICOM’s stated plan to enhance the capacity of its partners to target al-Shabab, Congress and the American public should raise questions about these very partners, from Bancroft Global to the Danab Brigade and AMISOM (recently replaced by ATMIS, the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia), whose collective roles in exacerbating the violence has been widely documented.

The Danab Brigade was established in 2014 with initial funding from the U.S. State Department that paid for the services of Bancroft Global, a private security firm that trained and advised the unit. Since then, it has also received funding and training from the Department of Defense. AFRICOM’s reliance on surrogate forces like the Danab Brigade is made possible by the 127e program, a U.S. budgetary authority that allows the Pentagon to bypass oversight by allowing U.S. special operations forces to use foreign military units as surrogates in counterterrorism missions. The Intercept has documented similar 127e operations in multiple African countries, primarily in locations that the U.S. government does not recognize as combat zones, but in which U.S. troops are present on the ground.

Ironically, the Times reports that the Biden administration’s deliberations about next steps in Somalia have been complicated by political chaos on the ground, implying that the United States somehow stands outside and above seemingly local factions and loyalties. But a closer and more critical look would reveal that the U.S. military and its private security partners are deeply implicated in this chaos, as business and security interests are irretrievably entangled on both sides of Mogadishu’s green zone.

Gun prices soared in advance of Somalia’s presidential elections last weekend as anxious Mogadishu residents worried about prospects for instability. It is no coincidence that many of these guns arrived via a loophole in a U.N. arms embargo that permits the distribution of weapons to the Somali National Security Forces in the name of training and security sector reform. This is not the first time that arms intended for security purposes have been diverted to the black market, and — in light of the Biden administration’s decision to double down on its commitment to endless war — likely won’t be the last.

Somalis have enough to worry about as food prices skyrocket with the shutdown of global supply chains, and as the worst drought in four decades affects over 7 million of the country’s inhabitants. The last thing they need is more war.


US service members speak with Danab soldiers in Somalia, Jan. 28, 2021. AFRICOM forces continue to train, advise and support Somali and other East African partners in their fight against violent extremism. Photo: Senior Airman Hannah Strobel
Analysis | Global Crises
 Abdel Fattah al-Burhan Sudan
Top image credit: Sudan's army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan gestures to soldiers inside the presidential palace after the Sudanese army said it had taken control of the building, in the capital Khartoum, Sudan March 26, 2025. Sudan Transitional Sovereignty Council/Handout via REUTERS

Saudi Arabia chooses sides in Sudan's civil war

Africa

In the final days of Ramadan, before Mecca's Grand Mosque, Sudan's de facto president and army chief, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan knelt in prayer beside Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman. Al-Burhan had arrived in the kingdom just two days after his troops dealt a significant blow to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), recapturing the capital Khartoum after two years of civil war. Missing from the frame was the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the Gulf power that has backed al-Burhan’s rivals in Sudan’s civil war with arms, mercenaries, and political cover.

The scene captured the essence of a deepening rift between Saudi Arabia and the UAE — once allies in reshaping the Arab world, now architects of competing visions for Sudan and the region.

For two years, Sudan has been enveloped in chaos. The conflict that erupted in April 2023 between the Sudanese Armed forces (SAF) and the RSF, led by General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo "Hemedti," has inflicted immense suffering: an estimated 150,000 killed, allegations of mass atrocities staining both sides but particularly the RSF in Darfur, 12 million displaced, and over half the population facing acute food insecurity.

keep readingShow less
Donald Trump Massad Boulos
Top image credit: Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump is joined by Massad Boulos, who was recently named as a 'senior advisor to the President on Arab and Middle Eastern Affairs,' during a campaign stop at the Great Commoner restaurant in Dearborn, Michigan, U.S., on November 1, 2024. REUTERS/Brian Snyder/File Photo

Trump tasks first time envoy with the most complex Africa conflict

Africa

As the war between the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and allied militias against the Rwandan-backed M23 rebel group continues, the Trump administration is reportedly tapping Massad Boulos as the State Department’s special envoy to the African Great Lakes region.

In this capacity, Boulos will be responsible for leading the American diplomatic effort to bring long-desired stability to the region and to end a conflict that has been raging in the eastern DRC for decades.

keep readingShow less
Sens. Paul and Merkley to Trump: Are we 'stumbling' into another war?
Top photo credit: Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky) (Gage Skidmore /Creative Commons) and Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) )( USDA photo by Preston Keres)

Sens. Paul and Merkley to Trump: Are we 'stumbling' into another war?

QiOSK

Senators Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) have co-written a letter to the White House, demanding to know the administration’s strategy behind the now-18 days of airstrikes against the Houthis in Yemen.

The letter calls into question the supposed intent of these strikes “to establish deterrence,” acknowledging that neither the Biden administration’s strikes in October 2023, nor the years-long bombing campaign by Saudi Arabia from 2014 to 2020, were successful in debilitating the military organization's military capabilities.

keep readingShow less

Trump transition

Latest

Newsletter

Subscribe now to our weekly round-up and don't miss a beat with your favorite RS contributors and reporters, as well as staff analysis, opinion, and news promoting a positive, non-partisan vision of U.S. foreign policy.