While the Islamic State and jihadist terror groups have faded from the headlines, American Enterprise Institute Fellow Katherine Zimmerman says their influence persists around the globe.
- Zimmerman said the Islamic State is growing in Afghanistan and across Africa even though its core leadership has been degraded in Iraq and Syria.
- She said areas with poor governance and weak security forces are most susceptible and that the Covid-19 pandemic has exacerbated the Islamic State’s ability to tap into local anti-government sentiment.
- The United States’ heavy reliance on over-the-horizon drone attacks on terror targets does not solve the problem in the long term, argued Zimmerman.
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 Soldiers conduct pre-convoy checks of vehicles before a mission in Iraq, Sept. 27, 2019. (Photo by Army 1st Lt. Haileigh Combs/Defense Department) |
 A sheepherder and his flock pass a U.S. Army Oshkosh M-ATV, a Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicle on May 26, 2021 near the Turkish border in northeastern Syria. U.S. forces, part of Task Force WARCLUB operated from remote combat outposts in the area, coordinating with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in combatting residual ISIS extremists and deterring pro-Iranian militia. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images) |
