Trump orders most U.S. troops out of Somalia

The drawdown of assets and roughly 700 U.S. troops in the African nation will occur early next year, the Pentagon said.

Published: December 5, 2020 6:46pm

Updated: December 5, 2020 7:00pm

President Trump has ordered most of the remaining U.S. troops out of Somalia, part of his post-election efforts to remove American soldiers from overseas, counter-terrorism efforts.

The order was announced Friday by the Pentagon, which said the drawdown of assets and roughly 700 troops will take place in early 2021, according to the Associated Press.

The troop are training and advising forces in the African nation on how to defeat the extremist group al-Shabab, an affiliate of al Qaeda.

Trump recently ordered troop drawdowns in Afghanistan and Iraq. He was expected to withdraw some or all troops from Somalia, the wire service also reports.