US to boost training, aid for troops in Somalia

Source: AP

WASHINGTON — The U.S. military is looking for ways to expand the training and equipping of African forces to help battle al-Shabab militants in Somalia who claimed responsibility for recent bombings in Uganda, a top commander said Tuesday.

Army Gen. William "Kip" Ward said that the African nations who are contributing forces in Somalia are still committed to the peacekeeping effort there despite the attacks last week that killed 76 people.

Al-Shabab, which has links to al-Qaida, has threatened more attacks in what worried officials see as the first moves to expand its violence beyond Somalia's borders. The group has said that the bombings were revenge for Uganda's deployment of peacekeepers in Somalia's capital of Mogadishu with the African Union force, known as AMISOM.

(snip)

U.S. officials say insurgents, including a number of foreign fighters from the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region, gather and train in Somalia's vast lawless regions. The Pentagon, said Ward, is looking for ways to expand the aid it is already providing the African nations, including additional training, equipment, logistical support and transportation for the troops there. He did not provide details and said decisions have not yet been made.

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I don't think it's any secret that there are several factions at the Pentagon who would like US troops to return to Somalia en masse. Keep an eye and see if they find a way to use Uganda to work toward that end.

From Viet Nam up until Iraq and Afghanistan... get those "Advisors" in there and you can wage war without actual declaration.

He was my brigade commander in 10th Mountain Division.

One of the best.