U.S. less effective at countering terrorist threats in Afghanistan and Somalia since troop withdrawal, generals warn

U.S. troops’ exit from Afghanistan and Somalia has limited the United States’ ability to conduct counterterrorism operations against groups linked to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State, the American generals in charge of the Middle East and Africa told senators Tuesday.

“In my view, we are marching in place at best,” Army Gen. Steven Townsend, who leads U.S. Africa Command, told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee of the security picture in Somalia. “We may be backsliding.”