Ashish Kumar Sen

In Somalia, al Shabaab Far from a Spent Force  A US airstrike that killed more than 150 al Shabaab fighters at a training camp in Somalia over the weekend emphasizes the extent of the terrorist threat in a country that US President Barack Obama once cited as a counterterrorism success story, said the Atlantic Council’s J. Peter Pham.

Al-Shabaab, the al Qaeda-linked militant group in Somalia, has sympathizers in the United States, but likely does not have the ability to strike targets in the West, despite its recent threat to do so, according to Atlantic Council analyst J. Peter Pham.

U.S. officially recognizes first Somali government since 1991 The Obama administration on Thursday officially recognized the government of Somalia , opening formal diplomatic ties between Washington and Mogadishu for the first time since 1991.

A number of Americans have traveled to Somalia to join up with al Shabab as well as al Qaeda, according to a senior U.S. administration official.