Somalia: Spy Chief Visits U.S. for Talks With CIA, FBI and Pentagon Officials

UA-ONU/Stuart Price
A street in Mogadiscio (file photo).
23 May 2023
Shabelle Media Network (Mogadishu)

Mogadishu — The director of the National Intelligence and Security Agency [NISA] Mahad Salad is in the US on an official working visit, becoming his 1st since taking the powerful office last year.

The spy chief is reported to have been invited to America for talks with FBI and CIA officials in Washington and New York on counterterrorism in Somalia, where hundreds of US special forces are based currently.

Credible sources disclosed that Mahad Salad was also having a meeting with Pentagon officials who are keen to boost cooperation with Somalia in the fight against Al-Shabaab.

Besides the engagement with US Intelligence and military, Mahad Salad is credited for unprecedented reform in NISA and ensuring the security of Mogadishu, the Somali capital.

However, Salad's US visit coincides with an airstrike by AFRICOM against Al-Shabaab in Jilib town on Monday, with the state media reporting that SNA forces were involved in the raid.

Last year, days after the re-election of Hassan Sheikh Mohamud as president on May 15, Biden authorized the redeployment of fewer than 500 American troops into Somalia on helping local forces defeat Al-Shabaab.

Despite facing battlefield defeats, Al-Shabaab frequently carries out bombings in Mogadishu and elsewhere as part of its war against the Horn of Africa country's central government.

Read the original article on Shabelle.

Tagged:
Copyright © 2023 Shabelle Media Network. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.

AllAfrica publishes around 500 reports a day from more than 100 news organizations and over 500 other institutions and individuals, representing a diversity of positions on every topic. We publish news and views ranging from vigorous opponents of governments to government publications and spokespersons. Publishers named above each report are responsible for their own content, which AllAfrica does not have the legal right to edit or correct.

Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica. To address comments or complaints, please Contact us.