Proxies and American Strategy in Africa

Modern War Institute

John Amble

News, Government

4.8 • 818 Ratings

🗓️ 23 December 2020

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The recent decision to withdraw seven hundred US servicemembers from Somalia offers a timely opportunity to explore a few important questions: How does the US military work with partners in pursuit of US objectives? And more specifically, what role does proxy warfare play in US strategy in Africa. Those questions are at the center of the discussion in this episode. (Note: This is a sample episode from the Irregular Warfare Podcast. If you enjoy it, be sure to subscribe to hear a wide range of conversations about subjected related to irregular warfare. Get it wherever you listen to podcasts.)

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, this is John Amble, editorial director at MWI and typically the host of the MWI podcast.
0:05.6	You're only going to hear from me for a minute, though, and then I'm going to hand it off to
0:08.8	Kyle Atwell and Shauna Sinit.
0:10.7	They are two of the hosts of another podcast that MWI features.
0:14.0	It's called the Irregular Warfare Podcast, and it's a collaboration between MWI
0:17.9	and the Empirical Studies of Conflict Project at Princeton University.
0:21.7	A few of you might already be familiar with that podcast, but many of you are not, and it is
0:25.5	really, really good. So we chose an episode to highlight here, and it's one that I think is
0:30.2	really timely. That's because of the announcement a few weeks ago by the White House that around
0:34.4	700 troops would be withdrawn from Somalia. That raises the question of just what U.S. forces are doing when they're deployed in Somalia
0:41.4	and really a pretty wide range of countries across Africa.
0:44.9	In most cases, in short, they're working with partners.
0:47.9	And that's the basis for this tremendously insightful discussion you're about to hear.
0:51.9	Kyle, Shauna, and their two guests talk about the
0:54.2	utility of proxy warfare and specifically how it fits into U.S. strategy in Africa.
0:59.3	A couple of things before we get to that conversation.
1:01.7	First, I strongly encourage you to find and subscribe to the Irregular Warfare podcast.
1:05.9	It features some really fascinating discussions, and a new episode is released every other
1:10.1	Friday. In the next episode,
1:11.8	the host are joined by retired general Stanley McChrystal. Second, we also have some really exciting
1:16.7	new episodes of the MWI podcast ready to go in the new year. We'll talk about everything from the
1:21.5	role of private military companies and U.S. national security to adaptation on the battlefield and more.
	...

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