News Briefs
Obama: No US troops to Somalia, Yemen
President Obama says he has "no intention" of sending U.S. troops to fight militants in Yemen and Somalia, and that al-Qaida's activities are still centered along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.
"I have every intention of working with our international partners in lawless areas around the globe to make sure that we're keeping the American people safe," Obama said in a People interview to be published Jan. 15. The magazine released a transcript Jan. 10.
"I never rule out any possibility in a world that is this complex. ... In countries like Yemen, in countries like Somalia, I think working with international partners is most effective at this point.
"I have no intention of sending U.S. boots on the ground in these regions," he added.
Recent strikes on al-Qaida positions in Yemen, including cruise missile attacks, were reportedly led by the United States, which has vowed to boost its economic and military aid to San'a. London and Washington have already announced plans to fund counter-extremism police in the country.
The top U.S. military officer, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Michael Mullen, acknowledged in a CNN interview Jan. 10 that the United States was providing "some support" to Yemen's efforts to strike al-Qaida militants, but insisted that San'a led the operations.
A thinly stretched U.S. military has deployed large troop contingents to Iraq and Afghanistan.
The number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan - where Obama has vowed to center the U.S. war against al-Qaida militants who have also sought refuge in neighbouring Pakistan - is set to triple under his watch from 2008 levels, reaching some 100,000 later this year.
Washington has urged Yemen to crack down on al-Qaida after the local franchise of Osama bin Laden's network said it was behind a narrowly avoided Christmas Day bombing aboard a U.S.-bound airliner.
But the impoverished Arabian Peninsula country already faces a litany of challenges, including a water shortage, dwindling oil reserves, a Shiite rebellion in the north and a movement for autonomy in the south.
Somalia is also the focus of U.S. counterterrorism efforts, where an embattled transitional government faces relentless attacks from extremist Shebab militants and their Hezb al-Islam allies.
The central government asserts little control over the country located along key shipping routes to oil fields in the Middle East.
International navies are battling to keep key shipping lanes in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean free from pirates, who are broadening their area of operation.
"We've known throughout this year that al-Qaida in Yemen has become a more serious problem. And as a consequence, we have partnered with the Yemeni government to go after those terrorist training camps and cells there in a much more deliberate and sustained fashion," Obama said.
"The same is true in Somalia, another country where there are large chunks that are not fully under government control and al-Qaida is trying to take advantage of them."
He insisted that "the border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan remains the epicenter of al-Qaida, their leadership and their extremist allies."
U.S. officials have said they are seeking to boost military and intelligence cooperation with Yemen.
"Yemen does not want to have American ground troops there. And that's a good response for us to hear, certainly," said Gen. David Petraeus, the head of U.S. Central Command, which oversees a region encompassing the Middle East, the Gulf, the Horn of Africa and Central Asia.
"Of course, we would always want a host nation to deal with a problem itself. We want to help. We're providing assistance," he told CNN.
Petraeus, who returned from a trip to Yemen, said Washington planned to more than double its economic aid to Yemen this year to $150 million or more. But U.S. officials have insisted the total aid amount has not yet been determined.
Though the figure pales in comparison to the billions of dollars Washington has poured into Afghanistan, the general stressed other allies were providing aid, including Saudi Arabia, which has reportedly allocated $2 billion, and the United Arab Emirates, which pledged $650 million to San'a.
Source: www.defensenews.com
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel.
Comments