So so, Morocco – The US army is retreating its usual talk of good governance and counteracting the underlying causes of insurgency, instead of a message that its fragile allies in Africa You must be ready to be more on your own.
In African LeonHis highest joint training exercise in the continent, that change was clear: “We need to be able to bring our partners to the level of independent operations,” Gen. Michael Langley He said in an interview with Associated Press.
“It is necessary to share a burden,” said Langley, the best official of the US Army in Africa, on Friday, the last day of the year.
For four weeks, troops from more than 40 countries rehearsed how to face threats for air, land and sea. Drones flew, simulated combat of closed rooms and launched satellite guided rockets in the desert.
The maneuvers reflected previous editions of African León, now in its 21st year. But most things disappeared now is a language that emphasizes the ideas that the United States once argued that it distinguishes it from Russia and China.
Messages on the interlaced work of defense, diplomacy and development Once he formed the core of the Washington Security Field. In their place they are now called to help allies develop the ability to administer their own security, what Langley said it was a priority for the defense department of President Donald Trump.
“We have our priorities established now, protecting the homeland. And we are also looking for other countries to contribute to some of these areas of global instability,” he said, referring to United States support for Sudan.
Change comes as the United States Army makes movements a “Build a thinner and more lethal force,” including potentially military leadership positions In places like Africawhere United States rivals continue to deepen their influence.
China has launched its own expansive training program for African military. Russian mercenaries are recalibrating and consolidating its role as a security partner of election throughout the north, west and center of Africa.
In An interview a year ago, Langley emphasized what US military officers have long called a “full government approach” to counteract insurgency. Even in the middle of setbacks, he defended the American approach and said that the force alone could not stabilize the weak states and protect the interests of the United States against the risk of violence spilling.
“I’ve always professed that Africom is not just a military organization,” Langley said last year. He called good governance a “lasting solution for a series of threats in layers, either desertification, whether it is a crop failure due to changing environments or if they are violent extremist organizations.”
The “general government approach” no longer occupies the same place in the center of the US courier, although Langley said that holistic efforts have worked in places like Ivory coastwhere the development together with the defense had reduced the attacks of jihadist groups near its volatile northern border.
But such successes are not a pattern.
“I have seen progression and I have seen regression,” said Langley, who is scheduled to get out of publication at the end of this year.
The new US army position is produced despite the fact that many African armies remain poorly equipped and insurgent groups expand.
“We see Africa and the epicenter for both Al-Qaida and the Islamic State,” said a senior US defense official earlier this month, noting that both groups had growing regional affiliates and the Islamic State group had changed command and control to Africa. The official spoke about anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the issue publicly.
Africa has rarely been located in the Pentagon priorities list, but the United States has still spent hundreds of millions of dollars in security assistance and has approximately 6,500 African command personnel on the continent. In some regions, the United States faces direct competition from Russia and China. In others, regional affiliates of Al-Qaida and the still require direct military action, Langley said.
The change of messaging of “the entire government” to more share the load occurs as the fears that the growing violence could extend beyond the hot points where insurgents have expanded the influence and found empty in which they can consolidate power.
Parts of Eastern and Western Africa have become epicenters of violence. In 2024, more than half of the victims of terrorism in the world were killed throughout West Africa BoilingA vast territory of the desert governed by military boards, according to the Institute of Economics and Peace. The group, which compiles annual terrorism statistics, also found Somalia It represented 6% of all deaths related to terrorism, which makes it the deadliest for terrorism in Africa outside the Sahel.
Since Trump assumed office, the United States Army has intensified Air attacks in SomaliaThe orientation is and operations of Al-Shabab. But despite air support, the Somalia Army is far from being able to maintain security on the ground, Langley acknowledged.
“The Somali National Army is trying to find its way,” Langley said, adding that they had recovered something after years of setbacks. “There are some things that still need on the battlefield to be very effective.”
Similarly, in Western Africa, the notion that states could soon have the ability to counteract such threats is a distant perspective, said Beverly Ochieng, control analyst Risks, a security consulting firm. Even before Western influence began to decrease in the Sahel, the necessary military support was limited, the threats remained active and the local military remained without the tools to face them.
Western powers with presence in Sahel gradually have Go back to scale your commitment, either by choice or After being expelled by increasingly hostile governments.
“Many of them do not have very strong air forces and cannot monitor the movement of militants, especially in areas where roads are very difficult to cross, the infrastructure is extremely poor,” said Ochieng, who specializes in the Sahel and a great energy competition in Africa.
