GOOD READ: The Seven Steps to the Destruction of the Islamic State Caliphate.

If the Islamic State leadership were in fact queried about the reasons for the destruction of their caliphate, what would they say? With the probability of this occurring virtually nil, certain points can be brought to the surface by examining the trajectory of the operational and strategic decisions of the Islamic State from June 2014 to October 2017. In light of such analysis, it is posited that the following steps resulted in the destruction of the Islamic State caliphate:

1. Failure of the Islamic State to achieve a policy-strategy match
2. The Islamic State’s premature transition to the “strategic offensive”
3. Al-Baghdadi’s unilateral declaration of the caliphate
4. The Islamic State’s attempt to control territory
5. The Islamic State’s use of ultra-violence
6. Incorrect strategic assumptions by the Islamic State leadership
7. The Global Coalition to Defeat Daesh

Failure of the Islamic State to achieve a policy-strategy match: The Islamic State made a fundamental error in its quest for an enduring political victory in that its policy goals were never aligned with its strategy. This policy-strategy mismatch, in which the Islamic State’s policy goals outran its capabilities, contributed significantly to the destruction of the caliphate.

It also helps to have a POTUS and a SecDef who understand that the way to deal with terrorists is to kill them in great numbers.