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?
And is AFRICOM appropriate to handle this kind of situation right now after the Christmas attack?
So far only Liberia, Washington's staunchest ally among the 53 African nations, has offered to host Africom.
To begin with, there is the issue of how much AFRICOM will cost to erect and to maintain.
Fortunately, the process of birthing AFRICOM has been moving along with relative success over the past few months.
White House officials say Africom is about training African peacekeepers, and co-ordinating US efforts to help the continent.
That being said, the necessary creation of AFRICOM is moving along at a pace generally commendable in its constancy.
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?
So with that, do you know anything of how the President is communicating, how is he getting information from AFRICOM?
In its entirety, the AFRICOM staff is expected to be about 400-to-700.
Furthermore, it is also key that AFRICOM receive its promised political backing.
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
The lukewarm response in Africa to Mr Bush's idea of a US military command headquarters in Africa, called Africom, was evident on this visit.
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
How often does the President talk to the commanders of AFRICOM?
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).
应用推荐