We’re losing the long war on ISIS

Military success alone doesn’t lead to political stability.

Widespread destruction in residential neighbourhoods near Attan, April 21, 2015. The war in Syria and Iraq has left a trail of devastation. A massive reconstruction effort, on the scale of the post-1945 Marshall Plan in Western Europe, awaits. If the conflict in Syria were to end today, the World Bank estimates that U.S. $170-billion would be needed to rebuild the country. By comparison, since 2014, the U.S. has spent roughly U.S. $7-billion on its war with ISIS. Photograph courtesy of Ibrahem Qasim

Opinion

BY ALEX WILNER

May 23, 2016

OTTAWA—The war on ISIS in Syria and Iraq is being won, slowly but surely. The U.S. and its coalition partners—Canada included—have destroyed ISIS’s ability to capture, hold, and govern territory in much of the Middle East. The group’s borders are shrinking. Its coffers are running dry. Its...

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