[Yahoo] The advance of a rogue militia on Tripoli, the capital city of Libya, has forced the hasty evacuation of U.S. troops from that country, highlighting the lack of a cohesive strategy for ongoing U.S. military operations in Africa and a seeming White House ambivalence about the continent, according to former officials.
For several years, from a handful of outposts in Libya, U.S. special operators have been conducting counterterrorism missions with names like Obsidian Lotus and Odyssey Resolve. These are just two of dozens of named operations that, largely unknown to the American public, have been launched from a string of bases across the northern half of Africa, according to information obtained by Yahoo News via the Freedom of Information Act.
Despite the large number of military operations in the region, some former officials say neither the Obama administration nor the current White House has taken much interest in coming up with a coherent policy for U.S. military operations on the continent. "During my time at the White House with the Trump administration there wasn’t a great deal of concern about doing much in northern Africa," said a former official who recently served on the National Security Council. "There was not a lot of interest or focus on Africa during the time I was there."
President Donald Trump, who reportedly referred to African states as "shithole countries" in January 2018, has faced criticism for essentially ignoring the continent. But in December, his administration announced a new Africa strategy, which a National Security Council spokesperson said committed the United States to helping its African allies build up their security forces while reserving the right to take unilateral action "when necessary to protect the homeland or United States citizens and interests." |