The Trump administration has more than doubled the number of U.S. troops in Somalia this year, putting them at the highest level since the 1993 Black Hawk Down episode that left 18 Americans dead.
There are now more than 500 U.S. troops stationed in the east African country ravaged by civil war, Politico reported, the most since two Black Hawk helicopters were shot down and a pilot captured in Mogadishu more than two decades ago.
It is the latest development in Trump’s strategy of expanding military commanders’ authority in the battle against jihadis in Africa.
The U.S. is now transporting more troops to Somalia to advise and train Somali troops in a bid to combat radical Islamists who have long operated in the failed state. Somalia now has a functioning government but its institutions remain weak.
As well as ramping up its troop presence in the country, the Pentagon has quietly increased its drone operations in Somalia.
Since the beginning of 2017, the U.S. military has conducted 28 drone strikes against radical Islamists in Somalia. More than half of those—15 strikes—have been conducted since the beginning of September. The U.S. Africa Command conducted a total of 15 strikes in the whole of 2016.
