Comprehending Islamist Strategy

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Over the past few years, Al-Qaeda affiliated groups such as ISIS have seized power over several territories in the Middle East. Lately, ISIS has taken Iraq’s second-largest city, persecuted its Christians, and just this weekend seized three towns from Kurdish control. As part of Tikvah’s “War and Human Nature” advanced institute, the American Enterprise Institute’s Frederick Kagan offered his thoughts on the Islamist’s recruiting strategy. Kagan suggested that, though the core of these groups is a band of hardcore believers, the vast majority of the fighters are fellow travelers simply hostile to the Assad and Maliki regimes.  Can the West turn them against the Islamists? How?

 

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