Dar es Salaam

March 13, 2019 | Bill Roggio |

U.S. on track to nearly triple airstrike record in Somalia

The US military continues to target Shabaab’s conventional forces in Somalia with record fury. In one of its latest airstrike, US Africa Command killed eight Shabaab fighters as the group attacked a...

October 31, 2013 | Bill Roggio, Clifford D. May

Drone Drama

In 1996, al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden issued a formal declaration of war against the United State...

July 12, 2013 | |

Have Tehran’s Tankers Hijacked the Tanzanian Flag?

When President Obama visited Tanzania last week, he praised the East African country as a place with which he feels a “special connection.” A glitch he did not mention is that Tanzani...

October 17, 2012 | Lee Smith Tablet |

A 40-Year US Embassy Crisis

The murders in Benghazi are the latest in a string of attacks on American diplomats to go unanswered by the US

September 21, 2012 | Thomas Joscelyn The Long War Journal

Al Qaeda’s Plan for Libya Highlighted in Congressional Report

An unclassified report published in August highlights al Qaeda's strategy for building a fully operational network in Libya. The report ("Al Qaeda in Libya: A Profile") was prepared by the f...

June 8, 2012 | Bill Roggio The Long War Journal

7 Shabaab Leaders Added to Rewards for Justice Most Wanted List

The US State department has added seven senior leaders of Shabaab, al Qaeda's affiliate in Somalia, to the...

April 26, 2012 | Thomas Joscelyn The Long War Journal |

DC Court: Iran Showed al Qaeda How to Bomb Embassies

In a little-noticed ruling on Nov. 28, a Washington, DC district court found that both Iran and Sudan were culpable for al Qaeda's 1998 embassy bombings. As is typical in cases dealing with...

February 22, 2012 | Clifford D. May |

Al Qaeda’s Big Fat Iranian Wedding

America’s top spy says the world’s leading sponsor of terrorism and the world’s most infamous terrorist organization are married

December 5, 2011 | Thomas Joscelyn |

Iran Showed Al Qaeda How to Bomb Embassies

In a little noticed ruling on Monday, November 28, a Washington, D.C. district court found that bo...

June 15, 2011 | World Defense Review

Eritrea: The Horn of Africa’s Rogue Regime

Last week, exasperated with Eritrea's continued violations of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and its increasing harassment of representatives at the American Embassy in Asmara...

June 14, 2011 | World Defense Review

Somalia Still Sinking as Eritrea Entertains Enemies

September has not been a good month in the sometime Somali capital of Mogadishu, even by the relative standards of a failed state that has not had an effective central government in the sixteen y...

June 13, 2011 | Journal of International Security Affairs

Securing Africa

 On February 6, 2007, President George W. Bush launched a major evolution in American military posture when he formally announced that he had directed the Pentagon to establish a new unified...

June 13, 2011 | World Defense Review

Playing with Fire: South Africa’s Dangerous Terrorist Liaisons

 On October 1, the United States Africa Command (AFRICOM) was officially stood up, achieving its "initial operating capacity" as a subordinate component of the U.S. European Command (EUCOM)...

January 29, 2011 | National Review Online

Untangling Ghailani

In Manhattan on Tuesday, Judge Lewis Kaplan gave al-Qaeda terrorist Ahmed Ghailani a sentence of life imprisonment after his conviction on a single count of conspiring to bomb American embassies...

November 17, 2010 |

Ghailani Verdict A Miscarriage of Justice

A New York jury delivered a stunning verdict Wednesday. Ahmed Ghailani, an al Qaeda terrorist who conspired to blow up American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, was acquitted of more than...

October 6, 2010 |

Embassy-Bombing Trial in Jeopardy

Ahmed Ghailani has confessed to bombing the U.S. embassy in Tanzania twelve years ago. As he explained to the FBI in a series of 2007 interviews, he bought the TNT used in the explosion. He even...

July 15, 2010 | Shlok Vaidya The Long War Journal

Uganda attack carried out by Shabaab cell named after slain al Qaeda leader

Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan. Click to view. The top leader of Shabaab said that the deadly attacks in Kampala, the capital of Uganda, were carried out by a cell named after an al...

November 12, 2009 | World Defense Review

Return of the Somali Pirates

By Dr. Peter Pham After maintaining a relatively low profile since the end of the monsoon season two months ago, Somali pirates literally shot their way back into the headlines...

September 24, 2009 | World Defense Review

Putting Puntland’s Potential into Play

By Dr. J. Peter Pham In last week's column, I noted that the United States military and intelligence communitie...

March 6, 2008 |

Why AFRICOM is Critical for Our Security Interests


This week I thought it useful to update readers on developments with some of the stories that have been previously reported in this column.