By Ankit Panda
After 13 years, the U.S. Joint Special Operations Task Force-Philippines (JSOTF-P) will leave the Philippines.
After 13 years of providing operational advice and support, the U.S. special operations mission in the Philippines, which was set up to help the Philippine military fight an Islamic militancy in the country’s south, is officially coming to a close. U.S. advisers were in the Philippines to primarily assist in Philippine commandos in fighting Abu Sayyaf militants in the country’s southern islands as past of the Joint Special Operations Task Force-Philippines (JSOTF-P). JSOTF-P advised the Philippines’ Armed Forces Western Mindanao Command.
According to local reports, U.S. JSOTF-P personnel joined their Philippines counterparts in a flag-raising ceremony in Zamboanga City to symbolize the conclusion of the U.S. mission. Zamboanga is the sixth largest city in the Philippines and hosted U.S. JSOTF-P advisers over the course of their 13 year mission in the Philippines. Though the JSOTF-P mission is scheduled to end this year, some members of the current mission will stay on as part of a U.S. special operations liaison to assist in the Philippines’ ongoing counter-terrorism efforts according to a statement made by U.S. Special Operations Command, Pacific spokesperson Army Maj. Kari McEwen to the US Naval Institute. “This represents a shift in focus for U.S. Special Operations Forces from advising and assisting at the small unit level to providing operational advice and assistance at higher levels of command within the Philippine Security Forces for continued counterterrorism progress, humanitarian assistance and civil military cooperation,” she added in the statement
Read the full story at The Diplomat