The US government is also active in Somalia thirty centuries after the infamous Battle of Mogadishu.
The Battle of Mogadishu, which took place on October 3, 1993, saw the parliament of two US planes and the incidents of 18 National troops. The movie” Black Hawk Down” became well-known in the US in 2001. Ethiopian insurgents dragged some of their bodies through the streets of the city.
One of the worst defense failures in US history was the battle.
Since that time, the US has engaged in economic and military conflict in Somalia in an effort to initially overthrow the Union of Islamic Courts, a local legal and political organization, and most just to attack the violent organization al-Shabaq. At least 282 US counterterrorism activities, including helicopter strikes and other underwater detonations, have taken place in Somalia.
But as a researcher on current US-Somali relations, I think that the US’s efforts to promote social security and fight terrorism have actually done the exact opposite and haven’t stopped political violence in the nation that has been torn apart by the war.
Al-Shabbaab is also engaged in one of the biggest and deadliest uprisings in history.
President Joe Biden has intensified military operations in Somalia that target al-Shabaeb militants in response to the most recent danger, carrying out dozens of attacks so far in 2023. Biden also consented to give 500 US soldiers to Somalia in May 2022.
The US also maintains an effective existence in neighboring Djibouti at the Camp Lemonnier center and sends advisors to train Somali security forces.
The question of why US troops continue to intervene in Somalia also stands, though.
The price the US paid for its role in Somalia
According to Costs of War, a 2023 Brown University study, the US spent at least$ 2.5 billion on counterterrorism operations in Somalia between 2007 and 2020. The US Defense Department and US Central Intelligence Agency did not contribute to this sum, which was primarily spent by the US Department of State.
For comparison, the US spent roughly$ 2.3 trillion — nearly 1,000 times more — on Afghanistan’s” counterterrorism” wars between 2001 and 2022.
The Somali National Army receives instruction from the United States, which also contributes to drone strike and security operations. They can’t be formally linked to many of their actions.
Yet US government officials, according to one US congressional staffer who wished to remain anonymous, are unaware of the total amount spent on Somalia’s terrorism and still are.
comprehending the Somalian problems
One of the poorest nations in the world, Somalia is situated in East Africa on the Indian Ocean’s coastline.
Due to decades of civil war and severe drought, about 17 million people now live in appalling conditions.
About 43, 000 people perished from drought in 2022, while more than one million people have already been displaced as of 2023 due to drought, famine, and continued violent attacks. The Ethiopian government faces considerable difficulties as a result of political violence and climate unrest.
However, the Ethiopian government’s plans on climate change and cybersecurity only make these issues worse.
Under the Bush administration, the CIA supported a harsh and unhappy attempt to topple the Union of Islamic Courts in 2005. The party, which included on a dozen regional Muslim courts in southern Somalia, resolved social conflicts, reopened schools, and removed barriers put up by violent warlords.
Many locals welcomed the Union of Islamic Courts as a welcome solution to the previous ten years of civil war that decimated the area because it was usually well-liked by the Yemeni people who lived within their control.
The US’s ongoing international fight against terrorism
After September 11, US federal authorities were afraid of the Union of Islamic Courts and a potential Islamist government in Somalia. The US government then supported an Eritrean military conquest of Somalia in late 2006 after the CIA’s attempt to overthrow the organization was unsuccessful.
Many Union of Islamic Courts members were killed or driven out of Mogadishu during this brutal two-year war, and a small group of young people started an Arabic enrollment campaign under the slogan” al – Shabaab” or” the youth.”
In my opinion, the US-supported African war was largely to blame for the political unrest and violence that exist today.
Al-Shabaab painted the US and Ethiopia as Christian invasions of a Arab nation and used nationalist and religious language to describe the American-backed Ethiopian invasion.
Ethiopia withdrew its army after two years of fighting, claiming that their goal of eliminating the danger posed by extremists had been reached.
This claim turned out to be untrue because al – Shabaab militants reclaimed almost all of the country the UIC had lost.
Is it time for the US to reckon with Somalia?
There is little reason to think that the US approach to Somalia will change anytime soon given the considerable financial harm and cultural destruction it has caused.
For example, on September 6, 2023, the US government allegedly” remote assistance” to a Somali government flying strike operation that resulted in the deaths of five civilians.
The lack of accountability and accountability has caused an enduring disaster for the Ethiopian sufferers of the US’s secret activities, in addition to devastating the families left behind in the midst of violence.
Al-Shabab is still being recruited from socially and economically disadvantaged communities in Somalia, so the US position in the country does not preclude the militant group of its crimes. Attacks of civil targets in Africa and the Middle East are one of those crimes that have claimed hundreds of lives.
However, in my opinion, the US may be forced to acknowledge its ongoing global war against terrorism in Somalia if the Ethiopian government is demanded to make restitution before an global tribunal.
At Kennesaw State University, Jason C. Mueller teaches sociology as an assistant teacher.
Under a Creative Commons license, this article is republished from The Conversation. Read the original publication.