But in a reflection of the administration’s caution in deploying United States forces to the strife-torn nation, the presence is tiny, at least for now — three advisers, a Defense Department official said on Friday.
The advisers were deployed to the Somali capital of Mogadishu last month to help provide logistics, planning and communications assistance to Somali and other African forces combating the Shabab, the Islamic militant group, according to the official, who spoke anonymously to discuss the mission.