Small Wars Journal

Africa Military Moves by US Reflect Iraq, Afghan Wars

Fri, 08/01/2014 - 3:16pm

Africa Military Moves by US Reflect Iraq, Afghan Wars by Gopal Ratnam, Bloomberg

More than three years after killing Osama bin Laden and claiming that the core of al-Qaeda had been decimated, the Obama administration is waging a protracted war with his disciples across north and sub-Saharan Africa.

The enemy isn’t a nation or an alliance, but a diverse, mobile and adaptive collection of groups loosely united by the goal of overthrowing the region’s governments and replacing them with strict Islamic rule.

Militants returning to the continent after fighting in the Middle East are linking up with local groups and attacking governments in the continent already struggling to control their territories, says retired U.S. Army General Carter Ham, the former head of the U.S. Africa Command…

Read on.