The Ingredients of a Viable anti-ISIS Strategy

For starters, the United States needs to address the means-ends mismatch in its strategy. It has devoted inadequate resources in pursuit of a goal — to “degrade and eventually destroy” ISIL — whose ultimate objective is likely to remain unattainable for a very long time. This is due to ISIL’s resilience, the weakness of America’s regional partners, and the incoherence of current U.S. strategy.