AFRICOM's scramble for troops

Human stories from a world in conflict. No Images? [Click here]( Feb. 15, 2019 Editor’s note: We are trying some new features this week in our global security newsletter and would like to know what you think. Please [take our survey](. Introducing Critical State (Beta), a partnership between The World and Inkstick Media. If you read just one thing ... ...make it this: Days after he [raised eyebrows]( by describing US Africa Command’s role as preventing Africa from becoming a “failed continent,” AFRICOM commander Gen. Thomas Waldhauser gave an [interview]( asking for more general purpose forces to accomplish a clearer goal: outbidding China as the go-to training partner for African militaries. AFRICOM currently employs special operations forces on a rotating basis to conduct counterterrorism and some partner military training missions, but Waldhauser wants conventional forces assigned to AFRICOM to help “build up local militaries and signal to them that America is a better long-term partner than Beijing.” Planned cuts to AFRICOM special operations had been thought to signal a decline in influence for the young combatant command, but if Waldhauser’s proposal gains steam, it would reframe the drawdown as a fundamental shift in America’s approach to Africa. ## ... if you read more than one thing Air Force [escapes to the one place that hasn’t been corrupted by capitalism]( Space Force, President Trump’s proposed new military branch whose anthem will almost certainly be a sweet guitar lick from an '80s hair metal song, will be left in the custody of its staid older sibling, the regrettably atmosphere-bound Air Force. Defense One [reports]( that the Pentagon will soon direct Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson to begin planning for a Space Force bureaucracy under her office’s purview, thereby preserving the Air Force’s jealously-maintained control over most US military space operations. - Proposals now awaiting congressional and White House action would place Space Force within the Department of the Air Force in the same way that the Marine Corps is housed in the Department of the Navy. This can only mean one thing: [rolled space sleeves](! - The proposal also keeps the National Reconnaissance Office — which handles intelligence satellites — out of the Space Force and in the intelligence community, in keeping with the plan’s priority of minimizing bureaucratic displacement. New attack in Kashmir At least 39 Indian military personnel were [killed]( in a suicide bomb attack in Kashmir Thursday. The attack, claimed by the Pakistan-based group Jaish-e-Mohammed, is one of the deadliest on record in the contested region. - South Asian security expert Paul Staniland [predicts]( that India is preparing a military incursion into Pakistan in retaliation. India tends to see these kinds of attacks as military strikes rather than isolated terrorist incidents. - Jaish-e-Mohammed, which seeks Kashmir’s incorporation into Pakistan and has a relationship with the Taliban and al-Qaeda, had seemed to wane since its last round of major attacks in 2016, but engaged in sniper attacks in Kashmir last fall. The common interest of correctly translated tweets Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu conducted a fascinating experiment in the 21st century on Wednesday when he officially [tweeted]( that he was meeting with Arab country representatives “to advance the common interest of war with Iran.” The tweet turned out to be a mistranslation of Netanyahu’s comments in Hebrew, which were closer to “the common interest of combating Iran,” but that didn’t stop a range of news outlets from running with the story that Bibi had co-opted the US-hosted anti-Iran summit he was attending in Warsaw. - The summit — ostensibly called to “pressure Iran on its regional influence, missile testing, and terrorism" — had already drawn some concern because of the apparent [lack of buy-in]( from many of the 60 countries in attendance. ## Diving Deep Continuing our deep dive into how militaries build their forces, we turn this week to the common, but puzzling, practice of countries’ military recruitment abroad. Countries, broadly speaking, prefer that interstate wars be fought fairly, and for over a century, one of the key tenets of “fairness” has been the idea that — to [paraphrase]( Donald Rumsfeld — you go to war with the population you have, not the population you wish to have. Armies are meant to be drawn from a country’s citizenry and mercenaries are supposed to be out of bounds. Though these international rules are, like everything else in international law, more like suggestions, the norms around citizen armies are actually fairly strong. When the United Arab Emirates [sends]( their Erik Prince-trained Colombian mercenary brigade to fight in Yemen, it’s news, not common practice. That’s because the norms are practical as well as aspirational. Having foreigners in your national military can be a pain. Motivating them to join, overcome linguistic and cultural differences to effectively integrate them, and ensuring their loyalty in wartime all pose major practical challenges. Yet today, nearly two dozen countries explicitly recruit abroad for their militaries (a practice that is distinct from the American practice — recently in the news — of offering permanent residents a fast-track to citizenship in exchange for military service). Columbia University PhD candidates Kolby Hanson and Erik Lin-Greenberg have a [forthcoming article]( in Security Studies that describes why those countries choose to exist in the gray zone between adhering to and violating the anti-mercenary norm by pursuing foreign military recruitment. Hanson and Lin-Greenberg suggest that some countries use foreign recruitment to import needed expertise and labor for their militaries, while others, perhaps less intuitively, use foreign recruitment primarily to export national identity. The import models are fairly simple. If a country lacks the manpower or expertise within its borders to attain its fundamental security goals, it’s probably worthwhile to see who else will join up. Vatican City is the classic example here: The country doesn’t have enough citizens to maintain its own security, and even if it did, Cardinals can’t compete with the Swiss Guard’s expertise in [plumage](. The export model, however, is a bit more complex. Seven states — including India, Israel and the United States — recruit abroad solely on the basis of ethnic or national characteristics. These recruitment plans do not measurably change a country’s military capabilities. In fact, according to Hanson and Lin-Greenberg, they “seem to have no material military purpose at all.” Instead, these programs serve to cement connections between the recruiting countries and diaspora communities and former colonies and possessions from whom they recruit. For countries with an interest in promoting diaspora engagement with the “home” country, such as India and Israel, Hanson and Lin Greenberg point out that recruiting from diasporas “communicate[s] ongoing trust and commitment” to those communities. For former colonial powers who wish to prioritize their connections with former territories, including the United Kingdom, Spain and Norway, military service underlines the special relationship. Nepal, for example, considers the presence of Gurkha units in the British military to be “a foundation for broader relationships in education, trade, and foreign affairs.” The article offers yet more examples of the ways that militaries serve social, diplomatic and economic purposes beyond their role as security guarantors. Show me the receipts Be ‘mein’ valentine: Merkel and Macron renew their ‘vows’ with Aachen treaty, but some critique the coupling Pádraig Belton’s [article]( digs into the history of “bromance” diplomacy with a close look at the co-dependent political relationship between French president Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Both somewhat politically embattled — Macron by ongoing “yellow vest” protests and Merkel by Germany’s emerging far-right AfD party — the two recently signed a treaty reaffirming Franco-German cooperation in the face of increasing populist resistance to unity in Europe. Learn more >]( The House vote on Yemen is a turning point Leah Greenberg and Elizabeth Beavers [explained]( why the recent House resolution to end [unpopular]( US military support for Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen is a major step in congressional attempts to wrestle some war powers back from the executive branch. Combined with action in the Senate, the resolution could mean that Congress will stop an American military action against the president’s wishes “for the first time since the Vietnam era.” [Learn more >]( As Orbán rises, Hungary's free press falls Orla Barry [charted]( the decline of press independence in Viktor Orbán’s Hungary as part of The World’s [series]( on the rise of the far-right there. Hungary has dropped 50 places on Reporters Without Borders’ Press Freedom Index since Orbán returned to power in 2010 but, as Barry reports, the reality may be even grimmer than the numbers. In addition to out-and-out repression, old-fashioned capitalism is also working against press freedom. Origo, Hungary’s second most popular news website, went from being an independent voice to a pro-government propaganda outlet after Orbán’s former finance minister’s family bought the site. [Learn more >]( An American reckoning in Virginia Bishop Garrison [reflected]( on the dumpster fire that is Virginia politics and what it means for the idea of “American values” as we preach them abroad. When foreign policy professionals turn on their local news and their governor is being asked to clarify if he’s the one in blackface or the one in a Ku Klux Klan costume, Garrison argues, they pay a price in their own work. “[I]t becomes more difficult by the day,” he writes, “for America to espouse what is or is not the moral high ground, as we continue to live under a veil of hypocrisy.” [Learn more >]( Zimbabwe’s internet crackdown shows the ‘economic sabotage’ of shutdowns Kudzai Chimhangwa [tracked]( the economic effects of Zimbabwean president Emmerson Mnangagwa’s recent order to shut down the internet in order to repress fuel price protests. Mnangagwa joined many other autocratic leaders who have used internet shutdowns to dampen dissent, even at the cost of Zimbabwe’s growing tech sector and mobile money services. Freezing leading mobile money provider EcoCash forced Zimbabwean consumers to be more frugal, which may not be smart politics for a president so associated with [Lacoste](. [Learn more >]( Well played Freshman Congresswoman Ilhan Omar caused a stir in the Washington blob when she [sparred]( with Elliott Abrams, the new US Special Representative for Venezuela in a congressional hearing. The clip is worth watching for the drama of the moment alone, but the Reagan-era [history]( Omar refers to when she questions Abrams’ record on genocide is [harrowing](, [relevant]( and well worth reading up on. “El Chapo” has been convicted and negotiations to prevent another government shutdown are ongoing. Time to take a big sip of water and read [The Hill]( … It’s that time again. Yesterday’s Hallmark holiday gave us a [return]( to “[Roses]( are red / [Violets]( are blue” tweets about the news. Thanks for reading. 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