President Joe Biden has suspended drone strikes outside war zones, where US forces are reversing the policy of his predecessor Donald Trump, who gave military-free force in countries such as Somalia.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said on Monday that any drone strikes against jihadist groups outside Afghanistan, Syria or Iraq had to be approved.
He described the measure as “interim guidance”, which was issued to “ensure that the president ensures full visibility on proposed key actions”.
At a news conference, he said “it is not meant to be permanent and does not mean that the strike has no meaning”.
“We are clearly focused on the continuing threat of violent extremist organizations. And we are clearly still committed to working with international partners to counter those threats, ”he said.
new York Times The new guidelines were secretly given to military commanders after Mr. Biden came to office on January 20, but were revealed only in recent times.
Since his first days in the White House in 2016, Mr. Trump had withdrawn the controls imposed by his predecessor Barack Obama on armed campaigns against jihadist extremist groups, saying he relied on commanders on the ground.
The drone attack multiplied rapidly, becoming the only form of operation in some countries, where only a handful of US special forces were deployed in support of local governments, such as Somalia, where the US al-Shabaab Islamic group Is battling, or in Libya, where he has targeted the Islamic State.
Although the military says its attacks are “surgical”, the NGO has stated that the attacks are often civilian casualties, reducing their effectiveness in combating extremism.
In the first public report on the US military campaign in Somalia, published in February, the Pentagon’s acting inspector general, Glenn Fain, recalled that part of the African mission’s stated mission is to ensure that by 2021, the Islamic State, Somalia, and other terrorists in Somalia The groups have been sufficiently “insulted so that they do not cause significant harm to American interests”.
But, Inspector-General Fine wrote, “Despite US airstrikes in Somalia and continued US aid to African partner forces, al-Shabaab is a growing threat that seeks to attack America’s homeland.”
On Friday, at least 10 people died after a car bomb exploded outside a popular restaurant in the Somali capital Mogadishu.
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