Ken Menkhaus, expert on Somalia at Davidson College, in a commentary dated 22 September 2013 and titled "What the Deadly Attack on a Kenya Mall Was Really About" argued that the bombing "was an act of desperation by a jihadi group beset by internal power struggles and plummeting support."
Cedric Barnes, writing for the New York Times on 25 September 2013 in a commentary titled "Kenya's Brutal Coming of Age" argued that "the weekend mall attack contradicted the conventional wisdom on Al Shabab -- that it is divided and in decline."