President Joe Biden approved a plan to send U.S. troops to Somalia in a bid to counter the terrorist group al-Shabaab, several administration officials confirmed on Monday.
Several White House officials confirmed the development at a briefing on Monday, saying Biden approved a request from Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin to reestablish a new U.S. presence war-torn east African country to deal with al-Shabaab, an al-Qaeda-aligned terrorist group that is said to have thousands of members.
“Our forces are not now, nor will they be, directly engaged in combat operations,” Pentagon press secretary John Kirby told reporters Monday in confirming the deployment. “The purpose here is to enable a more effective fight against al-Shabab by local forces.”
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