While no decision has been made nor action taken, the Pentagon is reportedly exploring plans to reduce counterterrorism forces in Africa and focus more closely on threats from China and Russia. “The optimization effort does not mean that we are going to walk away from counterterrorism in Africa, but that these efforts must be ‘right-sized’ to align with current security priorities,” said a spokesperson from the Pentagon. Around 6,000 U.S. troops are stationed across 53 African countries, but the 1,200 special operations troops are those most likely to see number decreases, according to the AFRICOM commander.
Source: Report: AFRICOM looks to cut special ops missions, pull out hundreds of troops from Africa
