Welcome AFRICOM

The US has a new combat command, the United States African Command, or AFRICOM. The new command joins the five other military headquarters who support a particular region; such as US European Command, US Central Command, and US Northern Command. As a unified command, AFRICOM will be responsible for providing military forces necessary to support US Foreign Policy on the continent of Africa. Before creation of this command, that responsibility was shared by three different regional commands. AFRICOM’s commander, General William E. “Kip” Ward, said that the command’s creation will allow the US to “look at the continent of Africa as the African’s look at it.”

Personally, I think this is a good thing. It seems that Africa, and problems in Africa have often been viewed as a supplemental problem; something that will either work itself out or that someone else will take care of. I tend to agree with General Ward when he says that in

“today’s globalized society, we know that what’s going on in any part of the world affects us all. It is our best interest as a nation as well as for the international community of nations to have a stable African continent.”

There is no intention to establish AFRICOM bases in African countries, and AFRICOM’s focus seems to be on establishing military-military relationships, ensuring security and helping other agencies, like the State Department as well as non-governmental entities, work toward security and economic growth of African countries. Good ideals. Hope it works. It looks like the first big challenge for AFRICOM, aside from the growth of Islamic-based terror groups, is the Somali Pirates.