North Africa falls into Africom's area of responsibility, so it was the obvious choice.
AfriCom will also provide military training to African countries and support the African Union's standby force.
Aside from budgeting, there is also the issue of the personnel composition and structure of AFRICOM.
Without a doubt, AFRICOM is an essential reform in our global military command structure.
Critics say Africom is designed to protect strategic American interests on the continent such as oil.
BBC: Mr Bush said the US did not want to add new bases in Africa
What is the involvement with AFRICOM now that operations have been transferred to NATO?
To begin with, there is the issue of how much AFRICOM will cost to erect and to maintain.
White House officials say Africom is about training African peacekeepers, and co-ordinating US efforts to help the continent.
According to DOD, one-third of the AFRICOM staff will be civilian in nature.
What kind of role will AFRICOM play if boots are on the ground?
To offset ballooning budgets, DOD claims that much of the cost for AFRICOM will be redirected from other combatant commands.
AFRICOM, will for the first time co-ordinate all the superpower's various military deployments on the continent under a unified command.
Do you think that this is something that should just be still left up to AFRICOM versus a larger contingent?
In its entirety, the AFRICOM staff is expected to be about 400-to-700.
Gen Carter Ham of United States Africa Command (Africom) said its forces had failed to teach "values, ethics and a military ethos".
AfriCom joins the five other geographic commands of the U.S. military and is an acknowledgment of the growing strategic importance of the continent.
He said the new command, Africom, was to provide African states with military training and assistance so they could handle Africa's problems better.
BBC: Mr Bush said the US did not want to add new bases in Africa
Gen Carter Ham of United States Africa Command (Africom) said its forces had failed to train Malian troops on "values, ethics and a military ethos".
BBC: Mali crisis: US admits mistakes in training local troops
Africom as its known, is one of six regionally-orientated US commands.
President Bush announced the creation of AFRICOM in February of 2007.
However, considering the transportation and reorganization factors involved, experts say that the initial costs for setting up AFRICOM will bump up the FY 2008 budget considerably.
William "Kip" Ward, the first four-star general to command U.S. military operations in Africa, was demoted for excessive spending from duty at U.S. Africa Command (Africom).
Despite the warm words, Ghana is refusing to host any US facility or base on its territory under Africom, whose creation was announced a year ago.
BBC: Mr Bush said the US did not want to add new bases in Africa
The United States will, therefore, vastly benefit from streamlining and increasing through AFRICOM, as the command will be known, its national security efforts with respect to the continent.
As a "combatant command plus, " one that mixes soft and hard power and thus military and civilian personnel, AFRICOM will be a hybrid giant staffed by an interagency personnel kaleidoscope.
If carried out properly, AFRICOM's work can complement that of the State Department, USAID, and other U.S. Government agencies working on the continent and help contribute to lasting peace and stability across Africa.
Advocates of the latter argue that an on-ground presence will demonstrate American commitment to Africa, enable American influence to flow with greater velocity, and assist AFRICOM in playing the decisive role its many defenders advocate.
Added to this, DOD further plans to install several sub-headquarters throughout Africa for more localized components of AFRICOM that will further increase the African geographical presence of US forces and thus our ability for rapid response in times of crisis.
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