In the sand and the rocky, mountainous terrain of the expansive Sahara Desert, it’s not just terrorist groups that roam, plotting surprise attacks on military installations and imagining distant overseas targets. In southern Morocco this week, thousands of Moroccan, Senegalese, and Tunisian troops were scheduled to unite alongside U.S. soldiers for joint exercises.
Live-fire rounds to train North African troops fighting the spread of terrorism across the Sahel were canceled. A B-52 flyover east of Agadir, Morocco, involving a dead drop was planned up until just days ago. American pilots had entered Morocco’s closed border under a special exemption to practice joint tactical air support with Moroccan ground units.
Humanitarian and medical relief exercises that would have brought together U.S. Army troops stationed in Italy, guardsmen from Utah, and North African partner nations were all canceled after the Department of Defense began to restrict movement from CDC travel advisory level 2 and 3 countries.
The annual African Lion exercise organized by U.S. Africa Command had boasted a cast of 9,000 troops, more than 60 aircraft, and over 100 rolling vehicles. In all, the 17th iteration of the exercise would have cost more than $20 million. More importantly, it was a show of force to counter China’s sizable economic power on the continent, stymie Russia’s strategic interests on NATO’s southern flank, and show taxpayers the value of keeping 2,000 U.S. troops on the African continent.
Terrorism in Africa and the value of U.S. training
Recent terrorist attacks on the African continent have killed U.S. service members and shaken Americans’ resolve to keep troops so far from home with a sometimes unclear objective. In Tongo Tongo, Niger, in 2017, four Green Berets were ambushed and killed by an Islamic State affiliate. Earlier this year, al Shabab overran a Kenyan base in Manda Bay and killed three Americans. Al Qaeda affiliates, Boko Haram, and other violent extremist groups are known to be growing their territory in the region.
The exercise cancellation also comes as the budget for AFRICOM undergoes a Pentagon review that could lead to cuts.
Ahead of the exercises, U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Roger Cloutier highlighted to journalists how the terrorism fight in Africa is fundamental and how the work on the continent is also on the front lines of the great power competition with China and Russia outlined in the 2018 National Defense Strategy.
“What the U.S. military brings to the table against what Russia or China brings to the table, we’ve got a competitive advantage,” he said of the U.S. training partner militaries in Africa, which include air, sea, and land exercises, classroom work, U.S. exchanges, and hundreds of workshops.
“We’re well aware of the Chinese activity and what they’re doing on the continent,” he said, referring to roads, ports, and stadiums built with Chinese funds and long-lasting, visible influence.
AFRICOM Strategy, Engagement, and Programs Director Maj. Gen. Christopher Craige told the Washington Examiner that training exercises such as African Lion strengthen relationships and create long-lasting influence.
“What these exercises do is they bring the ability of us to train together, and that really is what produces long-term partnerships and long-term results for future operations,” he said during a visit to Washington from AFRICOM headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany. The Air Force general described a $100 million drone airbase in Niger known for launching U.S. drone attacks against terrorists in Somalia and providing anti-piracy oversight to merchant vessels passing through the Indian Ocean.
U.S. Army Africa alone conducts some 300 separate theater security cooperation cases in Africa annually. African Lion’s lead planner, Alex Valdes, told the Washington Examiner that training boosts partner capabilities to defend themselves and in turn protect American security interests.
“We assist African partners [fighting] terrorism with things like counter-IED training, small-unit tactics training, and intel-collection training,” he said. “It’s good to have friends with that kind of capability. But in order to bring it to bear, we need to practice together until we get it right.”
AFRICOM first scaled back the March 23 kickoff of its exercise significantly but ultimately pulled the plug on African Lion for the first time in two decades after COVID-19 halted all but mission-essential troop movements globally. On Tuesday, AFRICOM also canceled the Mediterranean Sea maritime exercise Phoenix Express, which was scheduled for April.
Myriad programs ranging from military professionalization to security assistance in the Sahel are funded by a congressionally authorized $232 million doled out by the State Department in coordination with the Department of Defense. Deputy Assistant Secretary Whitney Baird told the Washington Examiner that reports that terrorist groups are seizing more ungoverned spaces in the Sahel and spilling into West Africa are not overblown and that they require dedicated engagement to reverse.
“The problem with extremist violence — that problem has been a long time building,” she said. “The enabling environment — poverty, corruption, lack of state presence — it is not something that will be reversed quickly or easily. But we will remain engaged.”
The G5 Sahel countries who will most benefit from the security assistance include strong, collaborative partners, Baird said, such as Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, and Niger. Each country receives assistance catered to its needs, whether that means training or equipment.
Stopping the terrorists in Africa before they hit the homeland
At a House Armed Services Committee briefing room in late February, Chairman Adam Smith, a Washington Democrat, sat down with reporters to describe in sober terms what he learned about the growing terrorism threat in Africa after a recent trip to Mali, Niger, and the AFRICOM headquarters. Terrorist affiliates of al Qaeda and ISIS had been conducting surprise attacks on troops in Niger. Violence erupted in northern Mali and has spilled over into Burkina Faso in the west, threatening to reach the thriving countries of coastal West Africa.
“They clearly have ties back to the central ISIS command structure in Iraq and Syria. And if they get a comfortable foothold, what do they do then?” he posed. “We don’t have many troops there, but they really help build the capacity of our partners.”
The European Union supports an indigenous G5 Sahel fighting force to address terrorism with millions of euros in aid, and the French have 4,500 troops on the ground in Chad as part of its Operation Barkhane. The U.S. coordinates regularly with the French in Africa, providing logistics support, aerial refueling, and other needs. But in January, Defense Secretary Mark Esper stood next to French Minister of Armed Forces Florence Parly at the Pentagon and said that might stop.
“My aim is to free up time, money, and manpower around the globe,” he said when asked about scaling back the U.S. presence in Africa. “My aim is to adjust our footprint in many places.”
Parly, in turn, said U.S. support in the Sahel terrorist fight was “really critical to our operations.”
At the House Armed Services briefing room, the Washington Examiner asked Smith if the U.S. was making progress fighting terrorism in the Sahel three years after Americans lost their lives and terrorist groups have seized more territory.
“It’s certainly risky to have our troops there. But when you see how the terrorists are reducing the area that the various governments in Burkina Faso, in Mali, in Niger — how much of their own territory they control,” he said. “We gotta find some way to push back on that.”
