Columbia International Affairs Online: Working Papers

CIAO DATE: 10/2014

A strategy to defeat the islamic state

Kimberly Kagan, Frederick W. Kagan, & Jessica D. Lewis

September 2014

Institute for the Study of War

Abstract

The Islamic State poses a grave danger to the United States and its allies in the Middle East and around the world due to its location, resources, the skill and determination of its leaders and fighters, and its demonstrated lethality compared to other al Qaeda-like groups.