Navy SEAL Killed in Somalia in First U.S. Combat Death There Since 1993
Yet the episode highlighted a deepening anomaly: the United States Africa Command, which oversees American military operations in Somalia,
has yet to act on new authority from President Trump freeing it from Obama-era constraints on strikes against the Shabab.
The United States carried out at least 14 airstrikes in Somalia in 2016, but its last one — an operation
that was mounted to defend Somali and African Union forces and American advisers during an anti-Shabab operation and which killed no Shabab fighters — was on Jan. 7, according to Africom.
The Shabab quickly seized on the commando’s death as a propaganda tool, with a spokesman telling a militant-run radio station
that "the enemy returned back to where they came from along with wounds and deaths." The combat death and the expanded targeting authority come at a delicate moment for Somalia, where there are hopes that the new president, Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, may have the potential to achieve stability amid the drought and famine.
And though General Waldhauser’s caution comes amid increased scrutiny on control
that Mr. Trump has ceded to the military, Trump administration officials have nonetheless begun questioning why Africa Command, which pushed hard to be unleashed, has carried out no operations under its new authority.
Since Mr. Trump removed the Obama-era targeting constraints on the military, General Waldhauser and his aides have repeatedly stressed
that the United States will continue to follow a similar targeting standard requiring near-certainty of no civilian deaths from strikes.
General Waldhauser must also contend with the public-relations fallout
that would come from an errant strike that killed civilians and how an accidental strike could undercut the legitimacy of the new civilian Somali government, particularly ahead of an international donors conference on Somalia next week in London.
