By Joseph Solis-Mullen

Since the end of the Cold War, Somalia has been a textbook case of the perils of foreign meddling. Once a pawn in superpower rivalry, it descended into state collapse, warlordism, and radical insurgency. Successive U.S. administrations, driven by shifting strategic obsessions—from anti-communism to counterterrorism—have repeatedly intervened, each time exacerbating the very problems they claimed to solve. The result? A fractured state, persistent extremism, and record U.S. bombings under the second Trump administration, which is on pace to shatter its own previously set record for strikes in a single year. Far from stabilizing the Horn of Africa, Washington’s actions have entrenched instability, empowered radicals, and imposed costs on both Somalis and American taxpayers.

For Americans seeking context, they must begin with the Cold War and Siad Barre’s regime. Seizing power in 1969, Barre initially aligned with the Soviet Union before switching sides in the late 1970s after the fiasco of the Ogaden War. Seeing that Siad Barre’s regime was disaffected, the Soviets had ceased arms shipments while supplying the new Derg regime in rival Ethiopia, Washington, which was at that moment seeking a foothold in the strategically vital region near Gulf oil routes, stepped in with hundreds of millions in military and economic aid. This continued throughout the 1980s, helping prop up a brutal dictatorship that suppressed any dissent, particularly in the northwest by using mass atrocities. Washington overlooked Barre’s repression as long as he served as a Cold War bulwark.

When the Cold War ended, Barre, no longer seen as critically useful, was abandoned to his fate: and in 1991, long-active clan-based opposition forces toppled Barre, plunging Somalia into civil war, famine, and anarchy. Hundreds of thousands died as a new equilibrium was established between clan-based power players over the course of the 1990s.