AUSSOM Cannot Eradicate Al-Shabaab Without Somali Government’s Full Engagement in the Fight

By Djama Mahamoud Ali

The fight against Al-Shabaab has defined Somalia’s security landscape for nearly two decades. The Al-Qaeda affiliate has proven remarkably resilient against numerous counterinsurgency campaigns, exploiting the Somali government’s lack of appetite to fight against Alshabab, clan divisions, and persistent political crises. The international community has responded with substantial commitments, the African Union has maintained a peacekeeping presence since 2007, transitioning from AMISOM to ATMIS and most recently to AUSSOM, whose mandate extends through December 2026. The United States conducts airstrikes in coordination with the federal government and has completed the creation and training of the Somali Danab elite unit for counterterrorism operations. Turkey has built a parallel security architecture including the TURKSOM Military Training Academy, which has trained thousands of Somali soldiers, including members of the elite Gorgor Commando Brigade.

Yet the results have been disappointing. By 2025, Al-Shabaab had launched a broad offensive, taking control of dozens of towns and villages. In August 2026 alone, the extremist group seized the strategic town of Teedaan in central Somalia’s Hiiraan region following intense fighting with government forces. The much-touted “Total War” against Al-Shabaab, launched in 2022, relied on fragile clan-militia alliances and was quickly derailed by political rifts This failure is not primarily military but political.

The Somali federal government, under President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, has systematically deployed internationally trained and equipped forces not against Al-Shabaab but against its own federal member states and political opponents. Unless Somalia’s internal political divisions are resolved, the fight against Al-Shabaab cannot succeed.