Ending United States Military Operations in Somalia
Paul D. Williams
August 19, 2020
The United States has effectively been at war with the Harakat Shabaab al-Mujahidin (known as al-Shabaab) for well over a decade, but the costs and risks are rising and there is no end in sight. My research suggests the United States should stop framing its strategic goal as victory over al-Shabaab and instead focus on achieving political reconciliation between Somalia’s main conflict parties. To achieve this objective, the United States should support a negotiated end to the war and be willing to place greater conditionality on its three main sources of leverage with the Somali authorities: security force assistance, military operations, and potential debt relief. However, Somalia’s fragmented local politics means that two linked peace deals are required to end the war. First, Washington should invest more diplomatic muscle to secure a deal that unites Somalia’s federal government and the country’s regional administrations (known as federal member states). Second, once such a deal is secured, the United States should then support the idea of the newly unified Somali authorities negotiating with al-Shabaab to end the civil war.
https://warontherocks.com/2020/08/ending-united-states-military-operations-in-somalia/
