U.S. Funding Cuts Risk Jeopardizing Counter-Islamic State Operations

Since the Islamic State crashed onto the scene in 2014, the U.S. has led efforts to combat the group’s influence, acting as one of the largest donors to the Global Coalition to Counter the Islamic State and leading its forces through Operation Inherent Resolve. These efforts resulted in the successful territorial defeat of the Islamic State in Iraq in 2017 and in Syria in 2019. With the fall of the Islamic State’s so-called caliphate, however, the threat changed—demanding a new approach. Accordingly, in 2022, U.S. Central Command Commanding General Michael Kurilla divided the Islamic State threat into three parts: “[Islamic State] at large” (the leaders and operatives fighting the U.S. and its partners Irweaq and Syria); “[Islamic State] in detention” (the thousands of Islamic State-affiliated men and boys, as well as some women and girls, held in detention facilities and youth “rehabilitation” centers in Iraq and Syria); and the “potential next generation of [Islamic State]” (the tens of thousands of primarily women and minors held in northeast Syrian Al-Hol and Roj detention camps).