US military changes tone in Africa, urges burden-sharing among allies

The U.S. military is backing off its usual talk of good governance and countering insurgencies’ underlying causes, instead leaning into a message that its fragile allies in Africa must be ready to stand more on their own.

At African Lion , its largest joint training exercise on the continent, that shift was clear.

“We need to be able to get our partners to the level of independent operations,” Gen. Michael Langley said in an interview with The Associated Press.

“There needs to be some burden sharing,” Langley, the U.S. military’s top official in Africa, said on Friday, the final day of the exercise.

For four weeks, troops from more than 40 countries rehearsed how to confront threats by air, land and sea. They flew drones, simulated close-quarters combat and launched satellite-guided rockets in the desert.

Maneuvers mirrored previous editions of African Lion, now in its 21st year. But mostly gone now is language that emphasizes ideas the U.S. once argued set it apart from Russia and China.

Messaging about the interwoven work of defense, diplomacy and development once formed the core of Washington’s security pitch. In their place now are calls for helping allies to build capacity manage their own security, which Langley said was a priority for President Donald Trump’s Defense Department.

“We have our set priorities now — protecting the homeland. And we’re also looking for other countries to contribute to some of these global instability areas,” he said, referencing U.S. support for Sudan.

The shift comes as the U.S. military makes moves to “build a leaner, more lethal force,” including potentially cutting military leadership positions in places like Africa , where America’s rivals continue to deepen their influence.

Soldiers assigned to the 10th Army Air and Missile Defense Command operate the Avenger Air Defense System, at African Lion 2025, at Ben Ghilouf Training Area, Tunisia. (Sgt. Jose Lora/Army)

China has launched its own expansive training program for African militaries. Russian mercenaries are recalibrating and cementing their role as security partner of choice throughout North, West and Central Africa.

In an interview a year ago, Langley emphasized what U.S. military officials have long called a “whole of government approach” to countering insurgency. Even amid setbacks, he defended the U.S. approach and said force alone couldn’t stabilize weak states and protect U.S. interests against the risk of violence spilling out.

“I’ve always professed that AFRICOM is not just a military organization,” Langley said last year. He called good governance an “enduring solution to a number of layered threats — whether it be desertification, whether it be crop failure from changing environments, or whether it be from violent extremist organizations.”

The “whole of government approach” no longer occupies the same place at the center of U.S. messaging, though Langley said holistic efforts have worked in places like Ivory Coast , where development coupled with defense had reduced attacks by jihadi groups near its volatile northern border.

But such successes aren’t a pattern.

“I’ve seen progression and I’ve seen regression,” said Langley, who is scheduled to exit his post later this year.

As the US steps back, insurgencies gain ground

The U.S. military’s new posture comes even though many African armies remain ill-equipped and insurgent groups expand.

“We see Africa as the epicenter for both al-Qaida and Islamic State,” a senior U.S. defense official said earlier this month, noting both groups had growing regional affiliates and the Islamic State group had shifted command and control to Africa. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to discuss the issue publicly.

Africa has rarely ranked high on the Pentagon’s list of priorities, but the U.S. has still spent hundreds of millions of dollars on security assistance and has roughly 6,500 Africa Command personnel on the continent.

In some regions, the U.S. faces direct competition from Russia and China. In others, regional affiliates of al-Qaida and the IS still require direct military action, Langley said.

The messaging shift from “whole of government” to more burden-sharing comes as fears grow that rising violence could spread beyond hotspots where insurgents have expanded influence and found vacuums in which they can consolidate power.

Parts of of both East and West Africa have emerged as epicenters of violence. In 2024, more than half of the world’s terrorism victims were killed across West Africa’s Sahel , a vast desert territory ruled by military juntas, according to the Institute for Economics and Peace.

The group, which compiles yearly terrorism statistics, also found Somalia accounted for 6% of all terrorism-related deaths, making it the deadliest for terrorism in Africa outside the Sahel.

Security officers patrol near the destroyed Hayat Hotel after a deadly 30-hour siege by al-Shabab militants in Mogadishu on Aug. 21, 2022. (Hassan Ali Elmi/AFP via Getty Images)

Since Trump took office, the U.S. military has escalated airstrikes in Somalia , targeting IS and al-Shabab operatives. But despite air support, Somalia’s army remains far from being able to maintain security on the ground, Langley acknowledged.

“The Somali National Army is trying to find their way,” Langley said, adding that they had regained some footing after years of setbacks. “There are some things they still need on the battlefield to be very effective.”

Similarly in West Africa, the notion that states could soon have the capacity to counter such threats is a distant prospect, said Beverly Ochieng, an analyst at Control Risks, a security consulting firm.

Even before Western influence began to wane in the Sahel, needed military support was limited, threats remained active and local militaries were left without the tools to confront them.

Western powers with a presence in the Sahel have gradually scaled back their engagement, either by choice or after being pushed out by increasingly hostile governments.

“Many of them do not have very strong air forces and are not able to monitor the movement of militants, especially in areas where roads are very difficult to traverse, the infrastructure is extremely poor,” said Ochieng, who specializes in the Sahel and Great Power competition in Africa.

美国军方不再像往常那样谈论善治和打击叛乱的根本原因，而是倾向于传达这样一个信息：其在非洲脆弱的盟友必须做好准备，更加独立自主。

在非洲雄狮演习（非洲大陆规模最大的联合训练演习）中，这种转变显而易见。

“我们需要让我们的合作伙伴达到独立行动的水平，”迈克尔·兰利将军在接受美联社采访时说。

“需要分担一些责任，”美国驻非洲最高军事官员兰利在演习的最后一天，也就是周五表示。

为期四周的演习中，来自40多个国家的部队演练了如何应对来自空中、陆地和海上的威胁。他们操控无人机，模拟近距离作战，并在沙漠中发射卫星制导火箭。

此次演习与往届“非洲雄狮”军演如出一辙，该军演至今已举办21届。但如今，美国过去用来强调自身与俄罗斯和中国区别的那些理念的措辞已基本消失。

过去，华盛顿安全策略的核心在于强调国防、外交和发展三者之间的相互联系。如今，取而代之的是呼吁帮助盟友提升自身安全管理能力。兰利表示，这已成为特朗普总统领导下的国防部的优先事项。

“我们现在有既定的优先事项——保护国土安全。同时，我们也希望其他国家能够为应对一些全球不稳定地区做出贡献，”他说道，并提到了美国对苏丹的支持。

这一转变正值美国军方采取措施“打造一支更精简、更具杀伤力的部队”之际，其中包括可能削减在非洲等地的军事领导职位，而美国的竞争对手正在这些地区不断加深其影响力。

在突尼斯本·吉卢夫训练区举行的“非洲雄狮2025”演习中，隶属于美国陆军第10防空导弹司令部的士兵正在操作“复仇者”防空系统。（陆军中士何塞·洛拉摄）

中国已启动一项针对非洲军队的大规模训练计划。俄罗斯雇佣兵正在重新调整策略，巩固其在北非、西非和中非地区作为首选安全伙伴的地位。

一年前的一次采访中，兰利强调了美国军方官员长期以来所称的“全政府应对叛乱”方针。即便遭遇挫折，他仍然捍卫美国的应对策略，并表示仅靠武力无法稳定脆弱国家，也无法保护美国利益免受暴力蔓延的风险。

“我一直宣称，非洲司令部不仅仅是一个军事组织，”兰利去年说道。他称良好的治理是“应对诸多复杂威胁的持久解决方案——无论是荒漠化、环境变化导致的作物歉收，还是暴力极端组织的威胁。”

“全政府方针”在美国宣传的核心地位已不再像以前那样重要，不过兰利表示，整体性努力在科特迪瓦等地取得了成功，在那里，发展与国防相结合减少了圣战组织在其动荡的北部边境附近发动的袭击。

但这样的成功并非普遍现象。

“我看到了进步，也看到了倒退，”兰利说道，他计划于今年晚些时候卸任。

随着美国撤退，叛乱势力抬头。

尽管许多非洲军队装备仍然不足，叛乱组织也在不断扩张，但美国军方仍然采取了新的姿态。

一位美国高级国防官员本月早些时候表示：“我们认为非洲是基地组织和伊斯兰国的中心。”他指出，这两个组织在非洲的分支机构都在不断壮大，而伊斯兰国已将指挥控制中心转移到非洲。这位官员要求匿名，因为他未被授权公开讨论此事。

非洲很少在五角大楼的优先事项清单上名列前茅，但美国仍然在安全援助方面花费了数亿美元，并在非洲大陆驻扎了大约 6500 名非洲司令部人员。

兰利表示，在一些地区，美国面临来自俄罗斯和中国的直接竞争。而在另一些地区，基地组织和伊斯兰国的地区分支仍然需要采取直接军事行动。

随着人们越来越担心暴力事件的升级可能会蔓延到叛乱分子扩大影响力并找到权力真空以巩固自身权力的热点地区之外，政府的信息传递方式也从“全政府参与”转向了更多地分担责任。

东非和西非部分地区已成为暴力冲突的中心。据经济与和平研究所称，2024年，全球超过一半的恐怖主义受害者死于西非萨赫勒地区，这是一片由军政府统治的广袤沙漠地带。

该组织每年都会编制恐怖主义统计数据，他们还发现，索马里占所有恐怖主义相关死亡人数的 6%，使其成为萨赫勒地区以外非洲恐怖主义死亡人数最多的国家。

2022年8月21日，在摩加迪沙，青年党武装分子对哈亚特酒店进行了长达30小时的致命围攻后，安全人员在被毁的哈亚特酒店附近巡逻。（Hassan Ali Elmi/AFP via Getty Images）

自特朗普上任以来，美军加大了在索马里的空袭力度，目标是“伊斯兰国”和“青年党”武装分子。但兰利承认，尽管有空中支援，索马里军队仍然远未具备维护地面安全的能力。

兰利说：“索马里国民军正在努力寻找出路。”他还补充说，经过多年的挫折，他们已经重新站稳了脚跟。“但他们在战场上仍然需要一些东西才能真正发挥效力。”

安全咨询公司 Control Risks 的分析师贝弗利·奥奇恩表示，西非各国也同样认为，它们很快就有能力应对此类威胁，这还是一个遥远的前景。

甚至在西方对萨赫勒地区的影响力开始减弱之前，所需的军事支持就十分有限，威胁依然存在，而当地军队却缺乏应对这些威胁的工具。

在萨赫勒地区拥有影响力的西方国家，要么是主动选择，要么是被日益敌对的政府驱逐出境，它们已经逐渐缩减了在该地区的活动。

“他们中的许多人没有很强大的空军，无法监控武装分子的动向，尤其是在道路崎岖难行、基础设施极其落后的地区，”专门研究萨赫勒地区和非洲大国竞争的奥奇恩说道。