There are potential threats to United States' homeland security emanating from the situation in Somalia after the US military repositioned out of the country earlier this year, AFRICOM Commander Stephen Townsend said on Tuesday
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 29th June, 2021) There are potential threats to United States' homeland security emanating from the situation in Somalia after the US military repositioned out of the country earlier this year, AFRICOM Commander Stephen Townsend said on Tuesday.
"There is really no denying that our repositioning, fairly sudden repositioning out of Somalia earlier this year has introduced new layers of risk and complexity to our mission there," Townsend said at a Center for Strategic and International Studies forum. "We see threats there to African stability, we see threats in Somalia to regional stability and we even see threats, potential threats there, to the US homeland."
The United States continues to assist its African partners to deal with security challenges in Somalia posed by al Shabab terror group, which is an arm of al Qaeda (banned in Russia), Townsend added.
Al-Shabab has led an insurgency against the Somalian Federal government and staged numerous attacks in an effort to impose Islamic law in the country.
