US To Send Soldiers To Tackle Boko Haram
A U.S. Army brigade will begin sending small teams into as
many as 35African nations early next year, part of an intensifying
Pentagon effort to train countries to battle extremists and give the
U.S. a ready and trained force to dispatch to Africa if crises requiring
the U.S. military emerge.
The teams will be limited to
training and equipping efforts, and will not be permitted to conduct
military operations without specific, additional approvals from the
secretary of defense.
The sharper focus on Africa by the U.S. comes against a backdrop of
widespread insurgent violence across North Africa, and as the African
Union and other nations discuss military intervention in northern Mali.
The terror threat from al-Qaida
linked groups in Africa has been growing steadily, particularly with the
rise of the extremist Islamist sect Boko Haram in Nigeria. Officials
also believe that the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi,
which killed the ambassador and three other Americans, may have been
carried out by those who had ties to al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb.
This first-of-its-kind brigade assignment — involving teams from the 2nd Brigade, 1st Infantry Division — will target countries such as Libya, Sudan, Algeria and Niger, where al-Qaida-linked groups have been active. It also will assist nations like Kenya and Uganda that have been battling al-Shabab militants on the front lines in Somalia.
Gen. Carter Ham, the top U.S. commander in Africa, noted that the brigade has a small drone capability that could be useful in Africa. But he also acknowledged that he would need special permission to tap it for that kind of mission.
“If they want them for (military)
operations, the brigade is our first sourcing solution because they’re
prepared,” said Gen. David Rodriguez, the head of U.S. Army Forces
Command. “But that has to go back to the secretary of defense to get an
execute order.”
Already the U.S. military has plans for nearly 100 different
exercises, training programs and other activities across the widely
diverse continent. But the new program faces significant cultural and
language challenges, as well as nagging questions about how many of the
lower-level enlisted members of the brigade, based in Fort Riley, Kan.,
will participate, since the teams would largely be made up of more
senior enlisted troops and officers. A full brigade numbers about 3,500,
but the teams could range from just a few people to a company of about
200. In rare cases for certain exercises, it could be a battalion, which
would number about 800.
To bridge the cultural gaps with
the African militaries, the Army is reaching out across the services,
the embassies and a network of professional organizations to find troops
and experts that are from some of the African countries. The experts
can be used during training, and the troops can both advise or travel
with the teams as they begin the program.
“In a very short time frame we
can only teach basic phrases,” said Col. Matthew McKenna, commander of
the 162nd Infantry Brigade that will begin training the Fort Riley
soldiers in March for their African deployment. “We focus on culture and
the cultural impact — how it impacts the African countries’ military
and their operations.”
Thomas Dempsey, a professor with
the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, said the biggest challenge will
be the level of cultural, language and historical diversity across the
far-flung continent.
“How do you train for that in a way that would be applicable wherever
they go?” said Dempsey, a retired Army colonel. He said he’s not sure
using a combat brigade is the right answer, but added, “I’m not sure
what the answer is. The security challenges differ so dramatically that,
to be honest, I really don’t think it’s feasible to have a continental
training package.”The Pentagon’s effort in Africa, including the creation of U.S. Africa Command in 2007, has been carefully calibrated, largely due to broad misgivings across the continent that it could spawn American bases or create the perception of an undue U.S. military influence there. As a result, the command has been based in Stuttgart, Germany, rather than on the African continent.
At the same time, many African nations are eager for U.S. training or support, as they work to build their militaries, battle pirates along the coast and shut down drug trafficking, kidnapping and other insurgent activities.
McKenna acknowledged the challenge, but said the military has to tap its conventional fighting forces for this task because there aren’t enough special operations forces to meet the global training needs. He said there will be as many as a dozen different training segments between February and September, each designed to provide tailored instruction for the particular teams.
The mission for the 2nd Brigade —
known as the “Dagger Brigade” — will begin in the spring and will pave
the way for Army brigades to be assigned next to U.S. Pacific Command
and then to U.S. European Command over the next year. The brigade is
receiving its regular combat training first, and then will move on to
the more specific instruction needed for the deployments, such as
language skills, cultural information and other data about the African
nations.
Dagger Brigade commander Col. Jeff Broadwater said the language and
culture training will be different than what most soldiers have had in
recent years, since they have focused on Pashtun and Farsi, languages
used mostly in Afghanistan and Iran. He said he expects the soldiers to
learn French, Swahili, Arabic or other languages, as well as the local
cultures.“What’s really exciting is we get to focus on a different part of the world and maintain our core combat skills,” Broadwater said, adding that the soldiers know what to expect. “You see those threats (in Africa) in the news all the time.”
The brigade will be carved up into different teams designed to meet the specific needs of each African nation. As the year goes on, the teams will travel from Fort Riley to those nations — all while trying to avoid any appearance of a large U.S. military footprint.
“The challenge we have is to always understand the system in their country,” said Rodriguez, who has been nominated to be the next head of Africa Command. “We’re not there to show them our system, we’re there to make their system work.
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