Atlantic Council Board of Directors Member Ahmed Charai writes for the Hill on successful and unsuccessful strategies used for combating the threat of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham:
As 2014 draws to a close, the so-called “Islamic State” in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) maintains its grip over large swaths of the two countries despite coalition air strikes designed to degrade and ultimately defeat the jihadist group. Meanwhile the map of Libya has lost its meaning, with the country a bloody mosaic of tribal militias, criminal gangs, and terrorist cells. There is hardly any international mobilization against the increasingly virulent Boko Haram insurgency now spilling over Nigeria’s borders into neighboring countries—although here in Morocco, their success and the consequent destabilization of the Sahel constitutes a real and growing security concern. And now, a new kind of ISIS-inspired terrorism has reared its head with the recent incident in Sydney, Australia—a lethal hostage taking in a public place by one man with one black flag. This global pathology will get worse before it gets better.
There is so much blame to go around that one could turn out a full-length monograph that simply lists the litany of sins of commission or omission in a line or two each. However, there are a few common points that need to be recalled.