Strategy for Combating al Qaeda and the Islamic State

The Paris attacks, as well as other terror attacks carried out recently show that the West is currently losing the fight against al Qaeda and the Islamic State (IS). Al Qaeda’s branches and partners have increased the territory they control in Syria, Yemen, Afghanistan, and North Africa, and IS continues to expand globally despite the US led airstrikes.

The American Enterprise Institute has today published a major report, “A Global Strategy for Combating al Qaeda and the Islamic State”, in which it proposes the ideological, security, diplomatic, economic, and political components of a comprehensive global strategy to degrade the extremists’ capabilities until they are unable to carry out mass casualty attacks against the West.

This comprehensive document gives a valuable insight into the current capabilities of these two terror groups, and is required reading for anyone with an interest in this subject. The full report can be found here.