Keeping the Pressure on ISIS

Keeping the Pressure on ISIS

“ISIS, and those inspired by it, continue to engage in heinous attacks wherever and however they can,” declared U.S. Ambassador Jeffrey DeLaurentis, Senior Advisor for Special Political Affairs at the United Nations. “The group attempts to exploit humanitarian crises, and recruit and radicalize to violence members of vulnerable populations and attack civilians.”

Recently, U.S. troops conducted an operation in Syria against ISIS that resulted in the death of the leader of ISIS, Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi, also known as Amir Muhammad Sa’id Abdal-Rahman al-Mawla or Hajji Abdallah. Under Abdallah’s leadership, ISIS provided material support to its Afghanistan branch, ISIS-Khorasan, which was responsible for the heinous attack on the Hamid Karzai International Airport that killed more than 130 civilians and 18 U.S. service members.

The high cost of ISIS brutality is borne out in the human tragedy of the over 40,000 foreign nationals, including tens of thousands of innocent children, currently residing in displaced persons camps.

“This situation is unacceptable, and is a humanitarian, human rights, and security crisis,” said Ambassador DeLaurentis. The United States is repatriating its citizens and calling on other nations to do likewise.

“Financing continues to be the lifeblood for terrorists,” warned Ambassador DeLaurentis. “We must bolster our efforts to go after terrorist financiers and financial facilitators, and stymie vital resource streams that exploit weak regulatory oversight in vulnerable jurisdictions.”

The United States is especially concerned about the increasing terrorism threat in areas of Africa. ISIS and its branches and networks have metastasized in pockets across Africa and grafted extremist ideology onto long-simmering conflicts, providing them new volatility and lethality. ISIS-West Africa has grown into one of the most lethal ISIS branches outside Iraq and Syria. The United States continues to work with African partners on counterterrorism programs.

It is vital that the international community continue to deny safe haven for terrorist groups, including those in Afghanistan. As President Biden has stressed, “We’ll hold the Taliban accountable for its commitment not to allow any terrorists to threaten the United States or its allies from Afghan soil.”

“Globally, promoting good governance, rule of law and accountability, inclusive democracy, and respect for human rights mitigates the conditions and grievances conducive to violent extremism and terrorism used to recruit,” said Ambassador DeLaurentis.

The international community must remain united in its commitment to stamp out the scourge of terrorist organizations such as ISIS and its extremist ideology, wherever it exists.