U.S. Special Forces train units in Africa

U.S. Special Forces train units in Africa

NEW YORK - Green Berets, Delta Force and other U.S. special forces have committed to train military units of four African countries: they are creating elite battalions to be used in the fight against al Qaeda in North and West Africa. And soon, U.S. Special Forces units may also be used to train moderate rebels fighting against the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

President Barack Obama is preparing to authorize a fact of U.S. military mission to train moderate Syrian rebels who fight against al-Assad and al-Qaida thread groups in Syria, in a move, writes the Wall Street Journal, which will substantially increase the role of United States in the Syrian conflict.

At the same time, U.S. military Special Operations, according to a secret program funded by the Pentagon, are creating commando forces since last year to be used in counter-terrorism in four African countries that, according to American officials are crucial in the fight to international terror in northern and western Libya, Mali, Mauritania and Niger.

In Mauritania and Niger, the Pentagon is investing, according to the program, approximately $ 70 million to form battalions counter-terrorism, the New York Times writes today. In Mali, however, the field activities have yet to be effectively begun, while the civilian government is strengthening its power after the coup of 2012. For Libya, considered to be 'the face' more ambitious program, the Pentagon has allocated 16 millions of dollars, but the activities have been suspended for the time being, last August, after a group of militants attacked a training camp on the outskirts of Tripoli, called Camp Younis, managing to get hold of hundreds of automatic weapons, armored cars , night vision goggles and other equipment supplied by the USA.

The U.S. military, who were not present at the time of the assault, they are now looking for a more secure basis. Sure, there are several other difficulties to collaborate with allies 'weak', as some experts have pointed to the NYT. "It's very difficult and it is a great challenge to work with the African forces," said Rudy Atallah, a former policy director of counterterrorism for the African Pentagon, according to which, "train them to a certain level, but then may have shortage of equipment, communications, and also to tires for their vehicles. "Nevertheless, the Obama administration is pushing for years the accelerator on training foreign forces to fight against Islamic terrorists in their countries of origin.