US President Donald Trump has told his country’s military that it’s not their job to protect foreign nations such as Kenya and Somalia.
Trump, in an address to the U.S.’s top military officials on Tuesday, stressed that after decades of military campaigns abroad, it was time to turn the armed forces inwards against an unspecified “enemy from within.”
“Only in recent decades did politicians somehow come to believe that our job is to police the far reaches of Kenya and Somalia, while America is under invasion from within,” the US President told a gathering of over 800 military Generals at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia.
It’s not clear how Trump’s sentiments will affect Kenya’s relationship with America, as he indicated that US military resources will be deployed more at home than abroad.
"After spending trillions of dollars defending the borders of foreign countries, with your help we're defending the borders of our country," he added.
This may signal a change in Washington’s policy coming on the same day when the trade agreement with several African countries under the AGOA framework expired without any word from the Trump administration.
Trump has ordered the deployment of military forces in Los Angeles, California; Washington, DC; Memphis, Tennessee; and Portland, Oregon.
On Tuesday, he suggested he would send the military to other major cities, including San Francisco, Chicago, and New York, likening the push to war.
“We’re under invasion from within. No different than a foreign enemy, but more difficult in many ways because they don’t wear uniforms. At least when they’re wearing a uniform, you can take them out. It’s war from within,” he added.
Kenya has had decades-long military cooperation with the US, and only last year did the Joe Biden Administration designate Kenya as a major non-NATO ally. Kenya also hosts a US military base in Manda Bay, Lamu County.
Since Kenya’s independence from Britain in 1963, the United States has developed a defense cooperation framework to advance its national interests with Kenyan security as partners, the US State Department states on its website.
Washington explains that its investments are readily visible through the Kenya Defense Forces’ (KDF) participation in the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia and in the KDF’s proven value as a partner in the fight against al-Shabaab.
“No competitor can match our decades-long investment in the KDF, which has benefitted from our materiel and equipment, a comprehensive maintenance and support program for U.S. defense articles, and international military education and training (IMET) programs,” the statement adds.
In September 2023, the Biden administration Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III, who was visiting Nairobi, and then Defense Minister Aden Bare Duale signed the five-year plan for defense cooperation worth US$ 100 million (about Sh13 billion).
“We intend to work with the United States Congress to provide up to $100 million in support,” Austin said, because “we’re grateful to Kenya for its leadership in tackling security challenges in the region and around the world.
The Framework that runs between 2023-2028 is meant to help Kenya and the US expand their cooperation in the fields of defence technology and innovation, counter-terrorism and counter-violent extremism, joint training, and maritime security that shall enable the two militaries to respond effectively to the ever-evolving security challenges.
