For all of the counterterrorism wins that the United States has had in its fight against the Islamic State — and there have been many — we still have not figured out how to defeat it.
It served as the latest deadly reminder that the Islamic State — and particularly its Khorasan branch, ISIS-K, which is active in Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan — remains a potent threat.
Several ISIS-K plots in Europe have been disrupted, with arrests in Austria, France, Germany and the Netherlands.
All of these events point to what we now know: Stripping the Islamic State of its self-proclaimed caliphate is not the same as beating it.
Forced from this redoubt, ISIS has reconstituted itself in other countries, going underground in less detectable — but more dangerous — forms.
Persons:
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Organizations:
Islamic, —, ISIS
Locations:
United States, Russian, Moscow, Khorasan, Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, Kabul, Turkey, Europe, Austria, France, Germany, Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Britain, State, Levant, Southeast Asia