Eye on Extremism: December 7, 2020
The Wall Street Journal: U.S. Will Move Nearly All Troops Out Of Somalia, Officials Say
“President Trump ordered the Pentagon to pull nearly all U.S. troops out of Somalia, where for 13 years they have been fighting a low-intensity battle against the local al Qaeda affiliate, al-Shabaab, U.S. officials said. The roughly 700 troops stationed in Somalia would move to bases in Kenya and Djibouti and enter Somalia to conduct shorter counterterrorism missions against al-Shabaab, as well as a smaller force of Islamic State militants. The U.S. troops are expected to leave the country by early next year, the officials said. The move, supported by the new acting defense secretary, Chris Miller, effectively reverses the course set by his predecessor, Mark Esper. Mr. Esper favored drawing down U.S. forces operating in the volatile Sahel region of West Africa while maintaining the American presence in Somalia, according to a senior U.S. official. The Pentagon, in a statement sent to lawmakers Friday, said that despite the withdrawal, U.S. aims in Somalia hadn’t changed. “We will continue to degrade violent extremist organizations that could threaten our homeland while ensuring we maintain our strategic advantage in great power competition,†the statement said.â€
The Australian: French Ban On Homeschooling Targets Islamist Extremism
“Homeschooling will be banned for all children in France from the age of three as President Emmanuel Macron presses ahead with plans to clamp down on radical Islam. Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin, a hardline conservative who Mr Macron appointed in July to head his security push, said the aim was to save “these children who are outside the scope of the republicâ€. He was referring to the several thousand children, and Âespecially girls, who are educated at home by fundamentalist families and disappear off the radar of the education system. About 50,000 children receive home education in France out of 12 million pupils. A draft law to curb the spread of a radical “separatist†culture in France’s big Muslim population will receive cabinet endorsement this week. However, the homeschooling ban may be struck out of the law as unconstitutional when it is examined by the state Constitutional Council, the government has been warned. All children in France will have to attend recognised schools once they turn three and will be recorded with individual identification numbers in the education system.â€
https://www.counterextremism.com/roundup/eye-extremism-december-7-2020
