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American Foreign Policy, ISIS, & Al-Qaida Nalls1
AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY AND THE
ISLAMIC STATE OF SYRIA: LESSONS FROM AL-QAEDA
Savannah L. Nalls
Liberty University
Completed for Requirement of American Foreign Policy (GOVT 425)
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Abstract
In this new age of terrorism, where extreme groups have access to stronger weapons and
better technology, it is more important now more than ever for American foreign policy to learn
from its past mistakes and accomplishments in order to continue to uphold its national security
measures. The American conflict with Al-Qaeda and the country’s decision to fight the group
militarily was a complete failure. However, the failure did provide the United States with many
important lessons that was implemented in the country’s fight against ISIS (Islamic State in
Syria) which have proven to be largely successful. Ultimately, this paper seeks to examine how
American foreign policies have changed over time to combat the rise of terrorism in the Islamic
world and what can be improved on should another radical group arise again.
The 9/11 attacks revealed a highly motivated, ruthless enemy that demanded unrelenting
focus and intelligence in order to claim victory; however, the United States military intervention
in Iraq and Afghanistan was a large failure.1 This involvement has resulted in the country being
disliked across the world and has contributed to the fact that the country has been in combat
longer than at any point in American history.2 The American military involvement in Iraq, for
example, made the United States particularly unlikable. In fact, Iraq’s political leaders including
former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi declared that he wanted American military involvement to
end as it was “definitely not the solution to the problems of [Iraq]”.3 Ultimately, when using the
failures with Al-Qaida as a reference, it is clear that American foreign policy will need to use
very limited military involvement and instead opt to provide for economic assistance. This shift
in thinking has resulted in the successful overtake of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
I. LESSONS FROM AL-QAIDA
Through the failures of the Iraq and Afghanistan war, America learned the hard lesson
that principles based on the theory of realism and military dominance are ineffective when
handling non-state actors like Islamic terrorist groups. Therefore, the United States discovered
after they lost the Iraq War that they would need to drastically re-evaluate their preference of
military intervention when dealing with Muslim extremists.
-
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1 Riedel, Bruce (2011). How the United States Enabled Al Qaeda, Brookings Instituted referenced at https://www.brookings.edu/opinions/how-the-united-
states-enabled-al-qaeda/.
2 Goodman, H.A. (2017) Ten Reasons Why America Should Let Others Destroy ISIS and End Perpetual Military Involvement in Iraq, The Huffington
Post referenced at https://www.huffingtonpost.com/h-a-goodman/10-reasons-why-america-should_b_6734016.html.
3 IBID
Although the War in Iraq did not officially begin until March 19th, 2003, the debate over
the rationale of the intervention started shortly after the terrorist attacks experiences on the 11th of
September, 2001. After these attacks, the United States foreign policy was defined by an
international war on terror through military intervention, nation building, and efforts to reshape
the politics of the Middle East to provide for more democracies.4 Those within the Bush
Administration believed that a democracy within the Arab world would soon become an ally of
the United States and the West in general which would result in an enemy to radical Islamic
groups such as Al-Qaida. However, over time it has been made clear time and time again that
these strategies fail to protect the United States from terrorism as well as stabilize the Middle
East.5 One of the gravest mistakes of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan policies is that it failed to
recognize the difference between state and non-state actors and consequently, how they would
need to be handled. The conflict in Afghanistan and Iraq with Al-Qaida has been one of the
examples of how a resurgence of the failing theory of realism has started to define American
foreign policy. Realism is where governments get involved in conflicts because they have an
intrinsic desire to dominate others (Snyder) In Jack Snyder’s One World, Rival Theories, Snyder
argues that the main issue with realism is that it does not provide solvency for the essential role
of non-state actors and as such is the main cause of failure in America’s foreign policy with Al-
4 Goepner, Eric & Thrall, Trevor (2017) Step Back: Lessons for U.S. Foregin Policy from the Failed War on Terror, Cato Institute referenced at
https://www.cato.org/publications/policy-analysis/step-back-lessons-us-foreign-policy-failed-war-terror.
5 IBID
Qaeda.6 Ultimately, in the conflict with ISIS, American forces were used less and air strikes and
economic assistance to groups who fought ISIS themselves were preferred.
II. AMERICAN – ISIS CONFLICT
ISIS considers itself the “Islamic Caliphate” and controls much of the land in western
IRAQ and eastern Syria. An Islamic Caliphate is defined as a state under the leadership of a
person considered to be a religious successor to the Islamic prophet, Muhammad.
ISIS poses a larger threat to the security of the globe and the stability of the Middle East
than Al-Qaeda because of the methodology they use to implement their world view. ISIS’ and Al-
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Qaeda had similar goals in general as they both wanted to replace regimes with what they
believed to be true Islamic governments. However, Al-Qaeda viewed the United States as their
primary enemy and saw the country’s involvement in the Middle East to be a large threat to their
group maintaining the governments they preferred in the region. Additionally, Al Qaeda
considers Shi’a Muslims to be apostates but sees their killing to be too extreme, a waste of
resources, and detrimental to the broader jihadist project.7 This methodology has found to be
completely different than ISIS use of force through conquering territory, using mass executions,
public beheadings and rape to terrorize the population into submission.
Ultimately, in response to this new form of enemy as well as taking into the consideration
the fact that military intervention was unlikely to provide solvency, the American foreign policy
begins to take a more “hands off” approach where the military was only deployed in rare
6 Snyder, Jack. One World, Rival Theories. Foreign Policy, 2004.
7 Byman, D. (2015). “Comparing Al Qaeda and ISIS: Different Goals, Different Targets”. Referenced from <
https://www.brookings.edu/testimonies/comparing-al-qaeda-and-isis-different-goals-different-targets/>.
incidences rather than it being the first course of action. As a result, Barack Obama’s and
President Donald Trump’s strategy of limited air strikes and U.S. Support for local proxies have
been largely successful in combating the threats from ISIS. According to U.S. military officials,
as many as 60,000 ISIS fighters have died since 2014. 8 However, the success of the policies
from all of the countries combating ISIS has been gradual for most of the entire conflict. In fact,
the Foundation for Defense of Democracies stated in 2018 that while the territory may have
changed, ISIS had the same number of fighters in Iraq and Syria than it did four years prior.9
While it seems that partial military intervention as well as economic assistance as seen
under the Obama Administration and Trump Administration has been widely successful, it is
impossible to declare that the United States has completely defeated the group altogether. While
the territorial caliphate has been defeated with only approximately 1,000 ISIS militants left, the
radical ideology still exists. 10-11 ISIS exists because of a longstanding bloody rivalry between
Sunni and Shias. Therefore, without peace between the two groups, no amount of U.S.
intervention will achieve long-term stability. General Joseph Votel the commander of US Central
Command told the House Armed Services Committee that, “Reduction of the physical caliphate
8 Burke, Jason (2017). Rise and Fall of ISIS: Its Dream of a Caliphate is Over, So What Now? The Guardian referenced at
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/oct/21/isis-caliphate-islamic-state-raqqa-iraq-islamist.
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9 The National Interest (2018) Bad News: ISIS Has Just as Many Fighters in Iraq and Syria as it Did Four Years ago Referenced at
https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/bad-news-isis-has-just-many-fighters-iraq-and-syria-it-did-4-years-ago-28812.
10 BBC News. (2019) After the Caliphate: Has IS been Defeated?
11 Araaf, Jane. (2019). In Iraq and Syria: What’s Left of ISIS? NPR Daily News Letter Referenced at https://www.npr.org/2019/02/17/695593535/in-iraq-
and-syria-whats-left-of-isis.
12 IBID
is a monumental military accomplishment but the fight against ISIS and violent extremism is far
from over”.13 In fact, if pressure on the group is not sustained, the radical group could reappear in
Syria within the upcoming year and even regain territory in the Middle Euphrates River Valley.14
III. CHRISTIANITY PERSPECTIVE ON RADICAL ISLAM
When evaluating radical Islamic groups through a Christian perspective it is important to
realize that while they may not be following the word of Jesus Christ, Christians are not meant to
hate them. “Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love” (1 John 4:8).
Additionally, it should come to no surprise that countries that typically follow a Christian
worldview such as the United States would be in continual conflict with Islamic ideologies. God
informs Christians that the fall of mankind will include many wars, “for nation will rise against
nation, and kingdom against kingdom”. (Matthew 24:7). However, wars are only a factor of
human life because of man inherent sinfulness. Therefore, God would prefer for countries to try
and settle their differences more peacefully before using military intervention.
Ultimately, when examining the United States foreign policy in regards to radical Islamic
groups, America will need to refrain from utilizing much military intervention and instead should
opt for economic assistance of opposing groups and governments in the area. Of course if ISIS
were to be defeated completely, it would not be long before another group similar threatens
American national security. In Samuel Huntington’s Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of
World Order Huntington hypothesizes that the new world order will include continual conflict
13 Browne, Ryan. (2019). Top US General in Middle East Says Fight Against ISIS ‘Far From Over”, CNN Politics referenced at
https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/07/politics/votel-isis-fight/index.html.
14 BBC News. (2019) After the Caliphate: Has IS been Defeated?
among Islam and the West.15 When these conflicts arise again, America will need to use the
conflict with Al-Qaeda and ISIS as a reference point. Additional research will need to be done
about the role that Islamic religion can play in destabilizing radical Islam as well. Ultimately,
while it is important for America to understand that military intervention is not the best plan of
action when combating radical Islam, more information will need to be gathered to determine if
America can influence other moderate groups destabilize radical ones.
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15 Huntington, Samuel. The Clash of Civilizations?
References
Araaf, Jane. (2019). In Iraq and Syria: What’s Left of ISIS? NPR Daily News Letter
Referenced at https://www.npr.org/2019/02/17/695593535/in-iraq-and-syria-whats-left-of-isis.
Badawy, A. & Ferrara, E. (2014). “The Rise of Jihadist Propaganda on Social Networks”.
University of Southern California Information Sciences Institute.
BBC News. (2019) After the Caliphate: Has IS been Defeated?
Browne, Ryan. (2019). Top US General in Middle East Says Fight Against ISIS ‘Far
From Over”, CNN Politics referenced at https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/07/politics/votel-isis-
fight/index.html.
Burke, Jason (2017). Rise and Fall of ISIS: Its Dream of a Caliphate is Over, So What
Now? The Guardian referenced at https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/oct/21/isis-
caliphate-islamic-state-raqqa-iraq-islamist.
Byman, D. (2015). “Comparing Al Qaeda and ISIS: Different Goals, Different Targets”.
Referenced from < https://www.brookings.edu/testimonies/comparing-al-qaeda-and-isis-
different-goals-different-targets/>.
Goepner, Eric & Thrall, Trevor (2017) Step Back: Lessons for U.S. Foregin Policy from
the Failed War on Terror, Cato Institute referenced at https://www.cato.org/publications/policy-
analysis/step-back-lessons-us-foreign-policy-failed-war-terror.
Goodman, H.A. (2017) Ten Reasons Why America Should Let Others Destroy ISIS and
End Perpetual Military Involvement in Iraq, The Huffington Post referenced at
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/h-a-goodman/10-reasons-why-america-
should_b_6734016.html.
Huntington, Samuel. The Clash of Civilizations?
Riedel, Bruce (2011). How the United States Enabled Al Qaeda, Brookings Instituted
referenced at https://www.brookings.edu/opinions/how-the-united-states-enabled-al-qaeda/.
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Snyder, Jack. One World, Rival Theories. Foreign Policy, 2004.
The National Interest (2018) Bad News: ISIS Has Just as Many Fighters in Iraq and Syria
as it Did Four Years ago Referenced at https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/bad-news-isis-has-
just-many-fighters-iraq-and-syria-it-did-4-years-ago-28812.
