The 1990s also brought significant challenges in Somalia as well as from the growing threat of regional terrorism . To prevent widespread starvation in the face of clan warfare , the command responded in 1992 with Operation Provide Relief to supply humanitarian assistance to Somalia and northeastern Kenya . CENTCOM 's Operation Restore Hope supported UNSCR 794 and a multinational Unified Task Force , which provided security until the U.N. created UNOSOM II in May 1993 . In spite of some UNOSOM II success in the countryside , the situation in Mogadishu worsened , and the significant casualties of the Battle of Mogadishu ultimately led President Bill Clinton to order the withdrawal of all U.S. troops from Somalia . Throughout the decade following the Gulf War , terrorist attacks had a major impact on CENTCOM forces in the region . Faced with attacks such as the 1996 bombing of the Khobar Towers , which killed 19 American airmen , the command launched Operation Desert Focus , designed to relocate U.S. installations to more defensible locations ( such as Prince Sultan Air Base ) , reduce the U.S. forward " footprint " by eliminating nonessential billets , and return dependents to the United States . In 1998 terrorists attacked the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania , killing 250 persons , including 12 Americans . The October 2000 attack on the USS '' Cole '' , resulting in the deaths of 17 U.S. sailors , was linked to Osama bin Laden 's Al Qaida organization
1996 bombing of the Khobar Towers
Khobar Towers bombing
United States Central Command