Thread by @jseldin

#ISIS #alQaida - "#Africa is providing them that venue, that safe haven where they can establish themselves" @USSOCOM #Africa Commander MajGen Dagvin Anderson tells @AEI
#AfricaCrossroad_AEI

"We see Islamic State core really needing these affiliates" in #Africa, per @USSOCOM #Africa's MajGen Anderson, adding #alQaida in Africa is even more dangerous, learning from the mistakes #ISIS made in #Iraq #Syria

"They stay below that threshold"

#alShabaab "has become more aligned w/#alQaida...more responsive" per @USSOCOM #Africa's MajGen Anderson

"This is not a threat that one nation can take care of on its own" @USSOCOM #Africa's MajGen Anderson says of #ISIS #alQaida "We should not underestimate what they're doing"

Says both are threats to the current international order

"They have come in and galvanized these localized groups that were disparate" per @USSOCOM #Africa's MajGen Anderson

#ISIS #alQaida "have the ability to transform the local grievance into an int'l one" he says

US has less than 1,000 personnel working w/#Somalia's forces to fight #alShabab-most of that to help build the #Danab forces, per @USSOCOM #Africa's MajGen Anderson

Also focusing on #alShabaab in #Juba River Valley, where al Shabaab's leadership & external planning ops are

US African partners being forced to invest 15-20% of their GDP in security due to terror threats, which means they are not able to invest that money in other areas like health, education, the economy - #ISIS #alQaida trying to take advantage of the shortfalls, per MajGen Anderson

"The US flag helps build trust. It also builds confidence" in #Africa, per @USSOCOM #Africa's MajGen Anderson

"We're having great effect with a small investment" per @USSOCOM #Africa's MajGen Anderson, also praisinf French forces

#France "has put a lot of blood & treasure into the #Sahel"

"The French are carrying the heavy burden of the fight in the #Sahel" adds per @USSOCOM #Africa's MajGen Anderson

"DoD has continued to conflate competition w/deterrence" in #Africa, Mark Mitchell, ex @DeptofDefense Principal Deputy Asst Sec for Special Ops/Low-Intensity Conflict tells @AEI

"We need to do a much better job of integrating our overall military efforts w/the diplomatic..."

US needs to "look at #Africa as a theater of strategic competition" per Mitchell re #Russia #China

"Where we excel, what special ops' niche is, is enabling out partners" per @USSOCOM #Africa's MajGen Anderson

"That is what other soc-called great powers are unable to do"

"These lines of influence aren't set. They're very fluid" in #Africa, per @USSOCOM Africa's MajGen Anderson

"We have the will & values to engage w/our partners a equals, not to make them feel second class" per @USSOCOM #Africa's MajGen Anderson "That matters"

"If we don't want corrosive dictatorships...then we have to be willing to go out an engage" per @USSOCOM #Africa's MajGen Anderson, adding it cannot be just the US military

"I can't think at any time the VEOs [violent extremism organizations] have benefited from #China or #Russia" in #Africa, per @USSOCOM's MajGen Anderson "That's not in anyone's interest"

"There are places to cooperate" w/#China in #Africa, per MajGen Anderson "I do see opportunities if they are willing to play by the rules"

"We need more energy...We need a coherent narrative & a coherent strategy to engage" in #Africa, per MajGen Anderson "We were brilliant at this during the #ColdWar"

"I think what [#RadioFreeEurope]...#VoiceofAmerica did was absolutely critical" per MajGen Anderson "I know that for a fact..."

"Having unbiased news that we push, that we send out around the world is absolutely vital to what we do" per US Special Ops #Africa Commander MajGen Anderson

"We have the ideals & values that transcend borders that people immigrate to America for"

"Whenever I go to #Africa, there isn't a partner that doesn't ask about how to come study in America, how do I get my kids to America, how do I get there?"
per MajGen Anderson "It's because they believe in what America stands for"

"We've become reticent, I think, to engage in information operations, to engage in news & broadcasts that matter" per MajGen Anderson "That's where as a nation we need to look & not be afraid to talk about who we are as a people"

"That is the strength of America & that is what our founding fathers established & that's what the Statue of Liberty stands for" per US Special Ops #Africa's MajGen Anderson "I don't defend that statue. I defend the words at her feet & the intangibles that that beacon stands for"