As voting begins pouring in across the country, Trump appears to be grasping at straws to remain Commander-in-Chief. In an attempt to keep his campaign promise to bring soldiers home, he announced his decision to withdraw troops out of Somalia despite having sent most of the current 650 troops currently there in mid-2017. Meanwhile, both Somalian President Mohammad Abdullahi and advisers appear to disagree with this stance. They fear the troops leaving will create the opportunity for the Islamist militant group al-Shabaab to strike. The group continues its attacks claiming they killed 24 soldiers this past week.
Trump continues to provoke confusion after tweeting on October 7th his plans to pull troops out of Afghanistan by the holiday season – multiple U.S. officials were reportedly “blindsided” by his plans. National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien had announced earlier that day “the 5,000 troops [in Afghanistan] will go to 2,500 by early next year”. In a frantic attempt to secure votes in his re-election, Donald Trump changed the timeline via Twitter.
This is not the first time the President has announced a military plan via Twitter only to be talked out of executing said Tweet. For example, Trump announced wanting to pull all forces out of Syria but that did not end up happening. Instead, less than 1,000 troops remain in Syria.
Perhaps Trump’s confusing militaristic strategies are working a little too well as the Taliban is now hoping he wins the election. The Taliban too wants U.S. troops out of Afghanistan and even noted they “think highly” of Trump’s “America first “narrative.
Victoria,
When policy analysts and historians write about the Trump era (which hopefully will be only four years!), they will use it as a textbook example of how NOT to make US foreign policy. You are certainly correct that the president’s compulsive use of Twitter to announce decisions on which he has apparently not consulted with the US military or national security experts is simply outrageous and stupid–especially given that he often has had to walk things back. It is yet another example of the fact that he is both incompetent and unfit to be POTUS. –Professor Wallerstein