Inside the US War On Terror in Somalia

we're embedded with the somali special forces unit known as dunob these are u.s trained commandos who have just received intel about two target houses that are supposedly hiding al-shabab militants we're heading to the village right now to see if we can arrest these guys these dunb fighters are somalia's best weapon against the terrorist group al-shabab they're rolling out on one of their first operations since their american partners left the country in january it's the only time journalists have been allowed to film a raid [Music] [Music] foreign one house they checked was empty so they moved on to the next [Music] foreign but it wasn't a bomb it was just a box of tangled up wires after detaining a half dozen men it was clear that none of them were in al-shabab because nothing was found in either of the two target houses would you consider that bad intelligence that den had received the doors that you kick down to to these homes will not be responsible for replacing those doors how long do you think the war with al-shabab will last that's a rosy view of what lies ahead in somalia's war on terror considering that up until the us left there was no end in sight the u.s spent hundreds of millions on training equipment and aerial support for dun-up the u.s military says dun-off now conducts more than half of counter-terrorism operations and has made it more difficult for al-shabab to operate but in december president trump made a bid to get out of quote endless wars and ordered u.s troops out of somalia only they didn't go home they went to bases in kenya and djibouti leaving dena with less than half of the 3 000 commandos originally promised did you expect that the americans were going to leave so soon in what ways is the us continuing to support you here even though they're not physically here you [Music] [Music] [Music] over the past 14 years al-shabab's campaign of violence has killed thousands throughout the horn of africa including u.s soldiers on one military base that just became home to many of the troops who just left the country they now control nearly a quarter of somalia and are funneling the money they make through extortion to al qaeda having the us in somalia helped al-shabab recruit the group out numbers done up around six to one [Music] we're here in an undisclosed location in mogadishu and we're about to meet up with a guy who says he was a former al-shabab intelligence officer and we're hoping to find out how al-shabab received the news that u.s troops have withdrawn from the country price news couldn't confirm this man's former rank in the group but we do know he is still in communication with its members now that the americans have withdrawn their troops from somalia how has al-shabab responded to that news are the americans right in thinking that al-shabab wants to attack america outside of somalia they see them as a formidable force to be reckoned with now that the u.s is [Music] gone [Music] militants aren't the only ones afraid of us planes overhead one watchdog group estimates that us bombings targeting al-shabab might have killed as many as 143 civilians the u.s military only admits to five including one member of the kusa omar family omar is nine years old she lived in al-shabab territory until last april anyway um do you remember what it sounded like ah [Music] hey i'm so i'm so sorry a day i'm so sorry do you know who did this to you and your family bye i did it yeah do you know who was flying the plane yeah i don't then we went so a date who do you blame for for what happened to your sister there's a very deliberate intelligence process to confirm the target major general dagman anderson is in charge of all u.s special forces operations in africa because of the repositioning and not having those boots on the ground is there a fear that the intelligence that we have won't be as sharp when we're making these decisions you know to launch a drone strike so the standard for any strike remains the same if we don't have the quality intelligence we're not going to take the strike president biden now requires the white house to sign off on all airstrikes in somalia but he said nothing to signal what comes next for troops on the ground if biden decided to reverse the decision and send troops back into somalia how difficult would that be we haven't done that assessment is it possible of course it's possible my job is to make sure that there are options available for our decision makers our policymakers to have was there ever a need to be in somalia to begin with i would say yes it's important that the international community be engaged in somalia al-shabaab's a threat to the international community is a threat to the united states it is just to be clear it is part of al qaeda and al qaeda has already proven the will and the ability to attack the west in the united states al-shabab sees the u.s repositioning out of somalia as a victory does this not mean that in some way the u.s has failed in its mission i don't agree with that at all we're still engaged so while we may not be there persistently we still have a periodic engagement when al-shabaab's claiming victory they're probably doing it a bit premature because they still have to go up against the knob and they may be small in numbers but they're quite capable just because it's propaganda doesn't mean it's the truth and of course that's what al-shabab is going to put out the statement from africom last year said that they were hoping to support danab until 2027 and build up the force upwards of 3 000 commandos less than half of that number have been trained so is there a feeling that we have left them in the lurch so i don't believe we've left them in the lurch we've given them high quality training they're very capable counterterrorism is difficult there's no two ways about it it is not without risk and the threat that our partners the knob face is real but ultimately this is a somali problem and this is an issue that the somali people and the dna are going to have to face foreign [Music] do you even want the americans to come back foreign [Music] what was the reasoning behind the positioning to begin with so that was a decision that was made at the senior levels of government so i can't really speak to what decision we executed the decision i was not part of the discussions that went into that decision did they give you a reason why you needed to find a way to reposition the troops this was part of the global repository and effort there were several efforts that went on when we were repositioned in iraq and afghanistan so it was combined with that overall effort what do you think we've lost by not having troops on the ground in somalia anymore i think that when you say what have we lost we lost that day-to-day close relationship and touch point but it doesn't mean that the relationship is lost it just means we have to work harder for it and that we have to stay engaged and we have to be deliberate about how we engage africom has verified and confirmed that it you know civilians have been killed because of u.s drone strikes we were able to meet with a young 10 year old girl who was part of a family that was you know that was hit by one of the drone strikes you know her sister is still suffering complications from that attack and you know she she still has surgeries that she needs to go through shouldn't her family be compensated for you know the suffering that they've had to endure first of all yeah it is heartbreaking it is any time you're in a war zone anytime there is uh civilian casualties due to conflict it's heartbreaking and it's very frustrating it's frustrating as a commander and as a father when we do these strikes there's a very deliberate intelligence process to confirm the target and what i can say to that is we can't claim perfection but we we do hold ourselves accountable and we do that uh very deliberately and we do that with a very methodical process so that we do improve and we do hold ourselves to a high standard i think we do that better than any other nation and i know for a fact we do it better than any terrorist organization and that al-shabab is unaccountable for the thousands of civilian casualties that they've inflicted well over four thousand since 2010 but for a day's family when the u.s makes a grave mistake like that and they confirm it and they admit it you know does that family see any compensation that's a policy decision and that's something i would recommend you take up with higher level policymakers and department of state for that that level of decision

Channel: VICE News

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Id: 6DD9-W9z62o

Length: 15min 24sec (924 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 10 2021