The Strategy on Somalia

"The U.S. efforts to help dismantle the ICU Islamists in Somalia, with proxy forces defending their own national interests, is a model that we will likely seeing with increasing frequency in more remote areas of the world where the Islamist threat exists.
So far U.S. troops for the Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa have provided intelligence and air support to Ethiopian and Somali forces to keep the ICU forces from regrouping into a coherent resistence that can challenge the fragile government. The U.S. has helped where others did not possess the capability, but did not take a higly visible stance. So far, so good.

The strategy is risky, but better than almost any alternative available if the threat is already consolidating, as it certainly appeared to be in Somalia. U.S. boots on the ground would create instant hostility, and doing nothing in an area where diplomatic leverage is almost zero allows a threat to remain unchecked.

But the military side was the relatively easy part, as Iraq and Afghanistan have shown. My full blog is here."
CT Blog