US Military Presence in Africa Grows With Terror Threat
June 21,2013
U.S. President Barack Obama's visit to Africa will emphasize Washington's expanding economic and commercial engagements with the continent. At the same time, the U.S. military's presence in Africa has been growing as terrorist threats mount across the region.
The spread of militant groups in what were previously unaffected areas of West Africa, such as Mali, has prompted the U.S. military to pay closer attention and boost its presence in the form of capacity-building programs, like the one in which U.S. Marines train African commandos.
The U.S. also has stepped up its intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance activities, setting up unarmed drone bases in places like Niger.
It is part of a plan to provide security assistance to Africa, without a large presence of U.S. personnel.
U.S. Army General David Rodriguez recently took the helm of the U.S. Africa Command, based in Germany. He explained why it is important for the U.S. military to maintain a small footprint on the continent.
“The history of the African nations, the colonialism, all those things are what point to the reasons why we should not go in there in force and everything else, and just use a small footprint with creative and innovative solutions to get high payoff from a small number of people, as well as come in for short periods of time to do exercises, to do operations, to help build that capacity,” said Rodriguez.
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