Al-Shabab says it wants to force Kenya to withdraw its troops from Somalia. Some in Kenya might sympathize with that demand. In addition to becoming a target for terrorist attacks, Kenya and its African Union partners have paid a high price for their Somalia intervention. According to the United Nations, as many as 3,000 of the African troops have been killed. By comparison, 3,300 U.S. and NATO soldiers have died in Afghanistan since 2001.
This is a crucial contest — and not just for Kenya. Al-Shabab is one of several al-Qaeda affiliates in an arc that stretches from Yemen to Mali, Algeria and Nigeria. The jihadists threaten to produce a string of failed states, and their transnational ambitions are growing. Al-Shabab has recruited Americans as members
Great Satan has spent more than $1 billion in the past several years to back security and nation-building efforts in Somalia, has a big stake in Kenya’s continued commitment to counterterrorism. The administration, which has carried out drone strikes and other special forces operations in Somalia, has strongly supported the African Union deployment
Kenya will need both moral and material U.S. support as it recovers from this horrific event.>
Pic - "A congressional report from July 2011 found that al-Shabab had recruited more than 40 Americans, and at that point at least 15 had been killed."
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