Surveying the state of America’s sixteen-year-long war on terror, Thomas Joscelyn argues that the current focus on defeating Islamic State could further empower al-Qaeda and the Islamic Republic. This problem is particularly salient as the Trump administration debates sending more troops to Afghanistan, where the Taliban is regaining ground, and is weighing the extent and nature of U.S. involvement in Syria:
[T]he restoration of the Taliban, or anything close to it, would have dire consequences for the United States, particularly because it would be seen as the result of American capitulation. The myth that faith in Allah was sufficient for the mujahedeen to drive the Soviets out of Afghanistan in the 1980s (ignoring the billions of dollars in arms supplied by the United States) fueled the generation of jihadists from which al-Qaeda arose. It is not difficult to imagine what a second vanquished superpower would do for their cause. . . . [A]n American retreat would be widely regarded as a vindication not just of [the Taliban’s late leader] Mullah Omar and his heirs, but of Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda. . . .
The Taliban has its allies, too. Iran long ago cut a deal with it to counter America’s presence in the region. The Russians have provided rhetorical support at the very minimum. Pakistan remains as duplicitous as ever, fighting some jihadists and allowing others to roam free. What little leverage we have in Pakistan today would surely be lost in the event of our withdrawal from Afghanistan. The Taliban was, after all, originally a Pakistani proxy. . . .
The U.S. focus on fighting Islamic State has obscured another problematic development: the rise of al-Qaeda in Syria. . . . U.S. officials estimate that [the organization’s Syrian offshoot], Nusra Front, has amassed at least 10,000 fighters. . . .
To make matters worse, no American-backed force is ready to move on al-Qaeda’s strongholds in northwestern Syria. Iran has used the war against Islamic State to pursue its long-term objective of becoming the regional hegemon, expanding its footprint in Iraq, Syria, and beyond. The president should have the U.S. military developing aggressive options for fighting the jihadists in Iraq and Syria and for maintaining our position as the chief regional broker.
Read more on Weekly Standard: http://www.weeklystandard.com/unfinished-business/article/2008216