The Islamic State
of Iraq and the Levant has grown since 2014, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs
of Staff said here today, and it is important that the United States and
coalition partners continue to put pressure on the terror organization across
all domains and with every facet of government.
Marine Corps Gen.
Joseph F. Dunford Jr. is on a multiday, three-continent trip, visiting American
forces along with the 2015 USO Holiday Troupe.
In addition to
meeting deployed American troops, Dunford was briefed on the situation in the
Horn of Africa and U.S. efforts to help African nations bring stability to the
region.
Violent extremists
are “absolutely planning to conduct operations against the United States,” the chairman
said in an interview with reporters. “What we are trying to do here is keep
pressure on the outside the United States so they are unable to threaten our
interests or the American people.”
Dunford has
stressed many times that there are nine lines of effort against the terror
group, and only two of them are entirely DoD responsibilities. It is important
to have “the right capabilities and capacities inside the joint force to keep
pressure on [ISIL] … to make sure we are playing an away game and not a home
game,” he said.
ISIL is a global
threat and the United States cannot counter that threat alone, the chairman said.
“We need partners and allies to assist us in doing that. ... One thing we do is
build partnership capacity in nations so they can deal with the threat within
their own borders,” Dunford said.
“So, with a small
number of Americans we can enable large numbers of indigenous forces to take
the fight to the enemy,” he continued.
Camp Lemonnier Mission
Combined Joint
Task Force – Horn of Africa, headquartered here, is the spearhead for this
effort. Around 2,000 service members are assigned to the task force at any one
time. The mission, according to Army Maj. Gen. Mark Stammer, the CJTF-HOA commander,
is to counter violent extremists through partner-building efforts.
Djibouti sits on a
number of the region’s geopolitical fault lines, Stammer said in an interview.
“We’re in Africa, but the Arabian Peninsula is right across the Bab el-Mandeb
Strait [and] we’re on a religious fault line between Christianity and the
Islamic community,” he said.
While there is
some spillover from the conflict in Yemen, the biggest terrorist threat comes
over land from Somalia in the form of al-Shabab, the general said. “While
al-Shabab’s strength and ability to project are waning, they still have intent
and capability to harm us. I don’t believe they have the ability to wage a long
campaign, but they can definitely hurt people as they have demonstrated in
Somalia,” Stammer said.
The main way the
command works with African nations at the moment is through the African Union
Mission in Somalia, or Amisom. Djibouti, Burundi, Kenya, Ethiopia and Uganda
have partnered in the peacekeeping mission in Somalia.
There have been
setbacks, such as when al-Shabab launched terror attacks in Kenya, Uganda and
Burundi, Stammer said. But there have been successes, too, the general noted. In
July, a combined force of Somalia National Army, Kenyans and Ethiopians
liberated the cities of the Jubba river valley, which had been under al-Shabab
control for eight years. “They not only liberated it, but held it,” he said.
This deprives
al-Shabab of revenue from the area and has freed up legitimate commerce for Somali
citizens, Stammer said.
Efforts Starting to Pay Off
The nations of the
region see the improvements and are continuing their efforts at creating stability,
the general said. “I visit the troops’ contributing countries to encourage them
to continue to build their capacity and to continue to develop their
capabilities,” he said. “Not only will those capabilities and capacities be
brought to bear on al-Shabab in Somalia, but they will take their skillsets
back home to deal with other priorities their governments may have for them in
the future.”
And the American
troops based in Djibouti spend a lot of time training with and operating with
the Amisom troops before and after their deployments to Somalia, Stammer said.
Somalia has come
so far since 1993, he said, but the nation still has a way to go. “Their vision
for 2016 is to ratify their constitution,” the general said. “They have a plan
to form states and create a state architecture throughout Somalia, and they are
also going to have presidential elections.”
They may not make their
self-imposed deadline, he said, but that is their intention. “They have set
lofty goals and they are making efforts to do so,” Stammer said.
(Follow Jim
Garamone on Twitter: @GaramoneDoDNews)