Skip to content
Politics

Biden Sending US Troops Back to Somalia After Trump Pulled Out

  • Fewer than 500 troops set to be sent to East African nation
  • Biden gave Pentagon authority to target al-Shabaab leaders
Damage around an explosion site after an attack at a restaurant in Mogadishu, Somalia on April 23. 

Damage around an explosion site after an attack at a restaurant in Mogadishu, Somalia on April 23. 

Photographer: Abukar Mohamed Muhudin/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
Updated on

President Joe Biden has authorized the US military to send Special Operations troops back to Somalia on a “persistent” basis to revive a counterterrorism mission that was ended during Donald Trump’s administration, the White House announced. 

Biden also gave the Defense Department authority to target about a dozen suspected leaders of the Somali al-Qaeda affiliate known as al-Shabaab, according to one U.S. official, who requested anonymity to discuss the matter before it was publicly announced.