At a time when the Pentagon has talked of pulling back its footprint in Africa, the U.S. military has carried out 28 airstrikes so far this year against the al-Shabab terror group in Somalia, records show ‐ more than 60 percent of the total for all of last year.
If the current 2019 pace continues, the U.S. may nearly triple the number of assaults from 2018. There were just 31 strikes in 2017, according to figures compiled by the Foundation for Defense of Democracy’s (FDD) Long War Journal project.
The sharply accelerated tempo of the bombing campaign ‐ which began during the waning days of the Obama administration and has steadily ramped up since President Trump came into office ‐ raises new questions after top military officials in recent weeks said they’ll pull back the number of troops stationed across the continent.
The reduction in deployed troops, coupled with the record-setting number of airstrikes, suggests the administration is quietly pursuing a new strategy in Africa and in Somalia specifically, one that centers on using drones and manned aircraft to target terrorist groups more aggressively while avoiding the ground combat and the possibility of new American casualties.