The US is planning to scale back its troop size in Africa, with a move to cut about 300 troops from the continent by mid-2020.
General Thomas Waldhauser, head of U.S. Africa Command, says the troop cut will be the first phase of the reduction, which he insists will not impact counter terrorism operations in Libya and Somalia.
Speaking to Congress on Thursday, General Waldhauser said officials would monitor any impact after the troop reduction when the time comes, and promised to push back on any further troop cuts if need be.
The Pentagon called for the reduction in U.S. troops in Africa, but the cutbacks triggered concerns from members of the Congress members who questioned if this would leave the continent more vulnerable to terrorism threats.
At any given time there are roughly 6,000 U.S. troops in Africa – the bulk of them at the U.S. base in Djibouti.
There are about 500 U.S. troops in Somalia, where the U.S. has escalated airstrikes against al-Shabaab. Already this year, the U.S. has conducted 24 strikes on al-Shabaab, which they say have resulted in the deaths of about 236 militants.
When considering the cutbacks, Waldhauser said the U.S. avoided scaling back in Somalia and Libya, where the counter-terrorism fight has been very active. He however did not say which countries would be affected.
“We’ve tried to take forces that have been involved in working with units that have been trained for quite some time,” said the General.
Of the 300 cut, about 130 are special operations forces and the rest are conventional forces.
