President Joe Biden spoke about the need to confront terrorist groups in globally dispersed new safe havens as he announced the end of the war in Afghanistan Wednesday,
“Over the past 20 years, the threat has become more dispersed, metastasizing around the globe,” Biden said in his White House address.
“Al Shabaab in Somalia, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, al Nusra in Syria, ISIS attempting to create a [caliphate] in Syria and Iraq and establishing affiliates in multiple countries in Africa and Asia,” he said, naming a few of the places America’s global combatant commands are working to root out terrorists.
For U.S. Africa Command, the statement could mean a renewed sense of mission after former President Donald Trump repositioned some 900 troops from Somalia and ordered its Stuttgart, Germany, headquarters to move but with no place to go.
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The Biden administration froze the movement of U.S. forces from bases in Germany and is reviewing the possibility of returning some troops to Somalia, where they helped target terrorists and train local forces.
A reorganization is coming, Biden said, and some of the troops in Afghanistan may be part of it.
“We’ll reorganize our counterterrorism capabilities and the substantial assets in the region to prevent reemergence of terrorists — of the threat to our homeland from over the horizon,” he said.
AFRICOM Air Force Col. Chris Karns told the Washington Examiner Thursday that he could not speak for the White House’s intentions, but he was clearly pleased that the president elevated the threat emanating from the African continent in his speech.
“We have various groups that have communicated an intent to do harm if they’re not countered and the threat isn’t isolated,” he said.
“What it does signal is the threat that al Shabab does present,” he said. “Not only on the African continent, but also it’s something that the international community needs to be continue to be mindful of.”
Terrorist threats on the African continent go beyond al Shabab, which has expressed a desire to strike the United States, although its capabilities to do so are questionable.
Al Qaeda and the Islamic State have affiliate groups in the vast Sahel region of sub-Saharan northern and western Africa. There, the French Operation Barkhane, with some 5,200 troops, is working to train local militaries in Mauritania, Chad, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger.
Karns indicated that U.S. lift and intelligence support is likely to continue under the Biden administration, whereas former Trump Defense Secretary Mark Esper had repeatedly made overtures to the Europeans that they take more responsibility for operations on the continent.
“When you look at the French contributions, especially in the west, they continue to be the lead. We will continue to serve in a supportive role,” Karns said. “What we bring is at a bargain for America when you consider how our contributions ensures America’s future security.”
A newly labeled ISIS affiliate in Mozambique is also a rising concern in East Africa, and terrorists in southern Libya crossed the border into Chad recently to commit an attack, showing that the fragile country still serves as a base for terrorist groups.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, speaking in Brussels after a meeting with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, said a resurgence of al Qaeda in Afghanistan can still be addressed from outside the country.
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“We have a range of capabilities that are available to us. And the president has been clear that we will not allow our homeland to be attacked again from the spaces of Afghanistan,” Austin said. “In terms of our ability to acquire targets and engage them in places where we are not. Actually, you’re seeing us do that each and every day and in places around the globe, whether it be in remote places in Africa or other places.”
Karns said the terrorist threat to the homeland emanating from Africa is real and growing and that Biden’s comments will foster an understanding of U.S. and partner operations there.
“It has a strategic importance to the defense of the U.S.,” he said. “The international model to be able to apply pressure continues to be a very real need.”
