Collapse of Yemeni Government Devastates US Counterterrorism Efforts
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Mohammed Hamoud/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) — A year after President Obama declared that Yemen had become a model for successful U.S. counterterrorism campaigns, the White House is now facing tough questions about why the security situation there has collapsed.
Yemen is on the verge of civil war with the U.S.-backed central government apparently overwhelmed by the Shiite militia Houthis who control the capital of Sanaa and are in the midst of seizing other cities.
With the U.S. closing down its embassy and withdrawing the remaining 100 Special Service Forces from Yemen, White House press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters at a briefing that Yemen had previously served “as a template for the kind of strategy that we would employ and have employed to mitigate the threat from extremists around the world.”
Meanwhile, State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said the relocation of U.S. personnel “has not forced us to suspend our counterterrorism operations,” claiming that “we continue to actively monitor threats and have resources prepared in the region to address them.”
However, some Washington lawmakers are worried about losing Yemen, which had become a major intelligence hub in the region, especially since the country is the headquarters for al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and the Islamic State also poses a threat to Yemen’s stability.
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