By Robert Farley
Rebalancing U.S. airpower to Asia will prove challenging.
What does the campaign against ISIS tell us about the future of airpower, and about the ability of the United States to tack between East Asia and the Levant?
We don’t have anything close to a full appreciation of how the war against ISIS will play out. American officials continue to insist that, the fall of Ramadi notwithstanding, the air campaign has significantly degraded ISIS’s military capabilities, slowing or stopping its advance in many parts of the country and opening the door to the liberation of areas such as Tikrit. And Iraqi offensives over the next few weeks may roll back ISIS gains, which would reflect a very different picture of reality than the one now apparent.
But it nevertheless remains apparent that ISIS can plan, prepare for, and execute offensive operations while under threat from U.S. airpower. In both Iraq and Syria, Ramadi has captured territory defended by government forces, even as the U.S.-led coalition have attacked its fielded forces and its logistical infrastructure. The Islamic State does not appear ready to collapse, and neither Iraqi nor Syrian government forces seem ready to expunge it.
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