CBS News is reporting the United States is sending troops to 35 African countries in 2013 as an anti-terror measure to combat the growing threat of extremist groups, many of whom are aligned with al-Qaeda. The move is 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 article states:
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 Qaeda 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-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.
Libya, Sudan, Algeria, Niger, Kenya and Uganda will be targeted based on recent acts by extremist groups like Boko Haram and al-Shabab in Somalia.
Read more at CBS News.
Like The Burton Wire on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter @TheBurtonWire.
