A Comprehensive Strategy for Combatting ISIS

U.S.-led effort to defeat ISIS remain hampered by the failure to fully integrate the anti-ISIS military strategy into wider political strategy.

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Idea of the Day

Idea of the Day

Last summer, the Obama administration began building a sound policy framework to combat ISIS. The president effectively leveraged U.S. military support to encourage Iraqis to usher in a new, more inclusive government and assembled an impressive coalition of 60 global and regional powers willing to fight ISIS together. The administration launched targeted military operations and implemented security cooperation initiatives to build the capacity of forces in the region to counter ISIS. These military steps were necessary to start to arrest the rising tide of ISIS. Moreover, the Obama administration made the correct decision against sending large numbers of U.S. ground troops back to Iraq in an open-ended commitment. While the U.S. military is the finest fighting force in the world, it cannot resolve the fundamental domestic and regional political problems underlying the current crisis.

For more on this idea, please see:

Recalibrating the Anti-ISIS Strategy by Hardin Lang, Peter Juul, and Mokhtar Awad

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