"The US is the common denominator in both countries – instead of containing the extremist elements in Somalia and Afghanistan, US policies have facilitated the expansion of territory that al-Shabab and the Taliban have psychological control over."

Aid groups say Somalia, wracked by anarchy and violence for decades, is suffering its worst humanitarian crisis since 1993. According to Lazzarini, the UN head of humanitarian affairs for Somalia, 2.5 million people are in need of food or other aid.

Against this grim backdrop, the Senlis Council, in its 79-page report, directly accused the US of undermining reconciliation efforts by backing the hardline president, Abdullahi Yusuf, instead of the more moderate prime minister, Nur Hassan Hussein.

According to the security thinktank, the US government in February disrupted negotiations with opposition parties - including hardline Islamists - by exerting pressure on the prime minister to exclude certain groups and individuals from a rec