By William M. Arkin

December 3, 2007

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates landed in Djibouti today to visit Combined Task Force-Horn of Africa, the only U.S. military base in Africa, comprising a permanent headquarters and some 1,800 rotating combat Marines. I suspect that topping Gates's agenda is AFRICOM, the new U.S. command on the continent. Formally activated Oct. 1, AFRICOM is gearing up to be declared fully operational in 2008. But it's still hunting for a place to call home -- and trying to justify its existence.

AFRICOM is for now operating out of Stuttgart, Germany headquarters of the U.S. European Command, which previously had responsibility for Africa south of the Sahara. Djibouti and Liberia had offered to host a new headquarters, which would mean about 1,000 military and civilian staffers, as well as all the security and support elements, and hundreds of American families.

But there is growing skepticism on the continent. A number of other nations -- including Libya, Nigeria and South Africa -- have expressed reservations about AFRICOM's mission and presence. The African press has been writing about it as an effort to thwart Chinese encroachment on the continent. Others have speculated about American designs on African oil.

The Pentagon insists that AFRICOM is not about China and not about oil, and not even about war. It will be different from the other regional combatant commands, the Pentagon says: a 21st century demonstration of "soft power" rather than a war-fighting formation. The military points out that the command has a civilian deputy commander from the State Department and says it will lean heavily on the "soft power" nation-building and civil affairs contingents of both State and the military. But, then, why a military command at all?

After Sept. 11, the notion of a new command gained traction because of concerns about al Qaeda's spread into the Horn of Africa and Bin Laden's links with North African groups. But it turned out that local counter-terrorism efforts were fairly adequate, particularly if the Pentagon stepped up some of the special operations training it had been helping with for years. By then, though, the AFRICOM train had left the station. A directorate in Germany turned into a task force, which then became an interim command, which was then formally activated and is now staffing up.

Certainly Gates has a lot to do with AFRICOM's new direction. The new secretary has accepted the proposition that what's needed in Africa is more attention and resources, not more guns. And, of late, Gates has been calling for a general shift in the war on terrorism, with greater application of civilian and economic resources. The U.S. must "focus our energies beyond the guns and steel of the military," he said in a speech in Kansas last week.

But then why not a regional State Department effort? Maybe the military should just assign a support command to help State do more in Africa. It's the Pentagon, though, that has the people, the resources and the know-how to activate a command. The State Department's not in that business.

So, despite Gates's good intentions, I suspect this command won't be that different from the others. Its head is a four-star general. He's not an ambassador or an envoy. He's in charge of a military command, plain and simple. And the core mission will be preparing for military contingencies and looking for wars to fight.

Source: Washington Post