Small Wars Journal

Post-Conflict Stabilization: Counterinsurgency After The Caliphate

Sat, 07/08/2017 - 2:13pm

Post-Conflict Stabilization: Counterinsurgency After The Caliphate by Carlton Haelig - American Security Project

The United States Military Academy’s Combating Terrorism Center released a report this week warning that as the Islamic State continues to lose territory, the group is beginning to revert back to the insurgent-based tactics its predecessors employed between 2003-2011. While the territorial defeats currently being suffered by the Islamic State are an important step towards its eradication, it does not eliminate the group’s ability to disrupt stability within Iraq and Syria in the post-conflict phase.

The report concludes that in many liberated zones previously held by the Islamic State, the group remains committed to waging a resistance - an insurgency against the liberating forces. To counter the Islamic State’s post-liberation insurgency, stakeholders involved in the post-conflict stabilization process must formulate a counterinsurgency initiative that relies on civil society efforts supported by military capabilities. Counterinsurgency strategies that rely too heavily on military capabilities or avoid civilian-based initiatives entirely rarely succeed

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