Ahmet Yayla
With the capturing of Mosul by the U.S.-backed Iraqi army, and the city of Raqqa—the Islamic State global headquarters under siege by the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces—the military campaign against ISIS is yielding tangible results.
But Ahmet Yayla, a George Mason University criminology professor and expert in international terrorism, said, “We cannot defeat jihadist terrorism simply by waging war on the field and overpowering the enemy. The key is to pursue a long-term strategy with the appropriate measures and policies applied to eradicate and prevent future terrorism.”
Toward that end, Yayla has developed six steps to winning the war against ISIS. Those include blocking fleeing ISIS fighters so they cannot gain footholds in Europe and other territories, cutting off ISIS from cyber sources, ensuring security for citizens returning to their occupied homelands and developing job and economic infrastructure.
Ahmet Yayla can be reached at ayayla@gmu.edu.
For more information, contact Buzz McClain at 703-727-0230 or bmcclai2@gmu.edu.
About George Mason
George Mason University is Virginia’s largest public research university. Located near Washington, D.C., Mason enrolls 35,000 students from 130 countries and all 50 states. Mason has grown rapidly over the past half-century and is recognized for its innovation and entrepreneurship, remarkable diversity and commitment to accessibility.