Richard Engel: ISIS Strategy ‘Certainly Not Slowing Down the Group’

“There are enormous contradictions in the U.S. strategy [to fight the Islamic State] that are becoming more apparent every day,” said NBC News chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel on Meet the Press.

Chief among their miscalculations is the United States’ not treating the fight as a singular conflict, but “artificially putting this border” between Iraq and Syria and treating it as two separate campaigns. In part, the Islamic State “does not seem to be degraded at all” by airstrikes, but has just shifted its aims towards other parts of the region.

“[Airstrikes are] having an impact in that it has forced ISIS to change its targets somewhat, but it is certainly not slowing down the group,” he said.

Furthermore, the Iraqi government and army are no better off now than they were months ago when the threat emerged, and American encouragement is sure to do little, Engel added. Meanwhile, in Syria, “there are no allies on the ground” for all practical purposes, he said.