The United States and the broader international community have spent billions of dollars in order to pull Somalia back from the brink. A year ago, the State Department lobbied furiously behind-the-scenes in order to write off $1 billion in debt to American taxpayers that Somali officials had lost, wasted, or embezzled. The U.S. and British militaries, as well as the European Union, African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), and Turkey have all invested heavily to train and assist the Somali National Army. That Farmaajo would send them to Eritrea—a state whose human rights record is akin to North Koreas and a state that subjects its own citizens to indefinite conscription, in effect, slavery to the Isaias’ whims—is a betrayal of his oath. That he would in effect traffic young Somalis for his own profit, however, crosses the line between poor leadership and human trafficking.

Just as Abiy and Isaias seek to use Farmaajo as their foil to control Somalia, so too has U.S. Ambassador Donald Yamamoto. For too long, the State Department has given Farmaajo a free pass. That should end.

The United States funds Somalia in order to enable its army to counter al-Shaabab and the Islamic State, not serve as Farmaajo’s personal property to trade amongst other regional dictators. To transfer of Somalis to fight and die on foreign soil and on behalf of a foreign dictator crosses the Rubicon. Every time the international community lets Farmaajo empower himself at the expense of Somali law, Somalia suffers and regional instability increases.

If the Biden administration truly wants to restore the credibility of American diplomacy, then the best way forward in the Horn of Africa would be to stop turning a blind eye toward Farmaajo’s abuses and instead treat Farmaajo for what he has become: a human trafficker pretending to be president. Rather than fund Farmaajo so lavishly, it is time to sanction him and treat him for what he is.

Michael Rubin is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and a frequent author for the National Interest.