MOGADISHU, Somalia—In July, the U.S. Mission to the African Union announced that it would be cutting support for the United Nations Support Office in Somalia (UNSOS). This unit provides logistical support, food rations, fuel, and medical supplies for the African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia.

The cut, which takes effect on Dec. 31, marks the end of U.S. support for the peacekeeping mission, known as the African Union Support and Stabilization Mission. After two decades of military intervention in the anarchic war-torn Horn of Africa nation—intervention overwhelmingly paid for by the U.S. government—the al Qaeda-affiliated Islamist group al-Shabab is arguably stronger than ever.

MOGADISHU, Somalia—In July, the U.S. Mission to the African Union announced that it would be cutting support for the United Nations Support Office in Somalia (UNSOS). This unit provides logistical support, food rations, fuel, and medical supplies for the African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia.

The cut, which takes effect on Dec. 31, marks the end of U.S. support for the peacekeeping mission, known as the African Union Support and Stabilization Mission. After two decades of military intervention in the anarchic war-torn Horn of Africa nation—intervention overwhelmingly paid for by the U.S. government—the al Qaeda-affiliated Islamist group al-Shabab is arguably stronger than ever.

Analysts who spoke with Foreign Policy said the decision by the Trump administration to cut support for UNSOS and the African Union peacekeeping mission is partly due to this questionable result.

“Despite the savior rhetoric of the past two decades, the international community has neither developed a strategy to defeat al-Shabaab,” wrote Abukar Arman, a political analyst and former Somali diplomat to the United States, in an email. “Nor have they ever executed anything in a coordinated way.”

Ugandan AU peacekeepers examine an unexploded artillery round, which was found and surrendered to them by Somalian army members, in Mogadishu on May 14, 2007.AFP via Getty Images

In March 2007, African Union (AU) peacekeepers from Uganda were deployed to the Somali capital, Mogadishu, to prop up a fragile transitional government battling armed Islamist rebels—most notably, al-Shabab.

In the years that have followed, the AU peacekeeping force has managed to push al-Shabab out of major cities and urban areas across south-central Somalia, including Mogadishu. But despite these successes, the militant group still dominates most of rural south and central Somalia. In these areas, it has morphed from a guerilla movement into something akin to a shadow state.

Since 2007, the United States has........

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