Those soldiers were taking part in a Joint Combined Exchange Training, or JCET mission, conducted under the auspices of Special Operations Command Forward-West Africa out of Camp Ram Ram, Morocco. The documents obtained from US Special Operations Command (SOCOM) via FOIA present one number; AFRICOM offers another. Mission ImpossibleUS Special Operations forces conducted 20 JCETs in Africa during 2014, according to the documents obtained from SOCOM. According to Prichard, special operators conducted “approximately nine JCETs across Africa in Fiscal Year 2012” and 18 in 2013. In addition to troubling overall trends in Africa since the US pivot there, JCETs have come under special criticism.

Source: The North Africa Journal September 07, 2016 15:31 UTC