IS thrown a lifeline by Washington: China Daily editorial

A few years ago, the Islamic State terrorist group took advantage of the US' withdrawal from Iraq to grow and recruit, seizing large swathes of land in Iraq and Syria and advertising itself by claiming responsibility for terrorist attacks in a number of cities across the world.

Seemingly fatally defeated after its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi killed during a US raid last month, the world might have to face the dangerous prospect of IS rebuilding as its dispersed fighters may take advantage of another strategic vacuum created by the United States to regroup.

Ironically, this is a dire warning as well as a fact stated in a report issued by an independent investigation office under the Pentagon on Monday, which said the terrorist group "exploited the Turkish incursion and subsequent drawdown of US troops to reconstitute capabilities and resources within Syria and strengthen its ability to plan attacks abroad".

US President Donald Trump announced on October 6 that around 1,000 US troops were leaving northeast Syria. The US move immediately drew strong criticisms as it constitutes an open betrayal of Kurdish fighters of the Syrian Democratic Forces, whom the US relied upon in the fight against the IS group.

Worse, the US' withdrawal opened the door to the Turkish incursion into northern Syria in an attempt to launch assaults on the Kurds, whom Ankara sees as separatists and terrorists. This, as the report says, will probably allow the IS group to "seek to regain control of some Syrian population centers and expand its global footprint".

As such, the major strategic shift in the US policy is creating a strategic vacuum in a highly volatile region and very likely handing the dispersed IS fighters a lifeline.

Washington should come up with timely remedies to this strategic failure as neither it nor the rest of the world can endure the dire consequences of a resurgence of the IS group.

The Trump administration has largely taken an unconcerned attitude toward fulfilling the international responsibilities that a superpower like the US should do. But what the US has left behind in the Middle East is not only a liability to itself — as the IS' attempt to regroup will undermine the US anti-terror efforts as well as threaten its national interests — but also a responsibility that it is duty bound to shoulder as part of the world's fight against terrorism. Unfortunately, as ever, the US only has eyes for the region's oil.

And aside from the US, major players in the region should also put aside self-interest and focus on the larger picture of regional peace and stability and join hands to prevent the dying embers of the IS group from reviving again.