March 22, 2017
Trump says he'll destroy ISIS. His budget would make that a lot harder.
The Trump administration is hosting a meeting today of the 68 countries battling ISIS to take stock of the current campaign and plan their next moves. It should be a big moment for President Trump, who won the White House after vowing to eradicate the group.
The problem is that Trump’s proposal to slash the State Department and USAID budget by 36 percent — from $58.8 billion to $37.6 billion — will make the fight much harder. Trump will have to choose between a desire to dramatically slash spending on diplomacy and foreign aid and his promise to defeat ISIS. He can’t do both.
The hardest part of destroying ISIS’s self-declared “caliphate” in Iraq and Syria isn't reconquering actual territory. It’s been a bloody and slow fight, but Iraqi and Kurdish forces — backed by US airpower and troops — are gradually retaking both small towns and major cities like Mosul.
Read the full article on Vox.
More from CNAS
-
Sharper: Trump's First 100 Days
Commentary
Donald Trump takes office in a complex and volatile global environment. Rising tensions with China, the continued war in Ukraine, and instability in the Middle East all pose s...
By Charles Horn
-
Convene the E3 to Address the Iranian Nuclear Threat
Commentary
In its first 100 days, the Trump administration should convene the United Kingdom (UK), France, and Germany—the E3—to coordinate a strategy for dealing with Iran’s nuclear pro...
By Jonathan Lord
-
Tehran’s Proxies Are on the Back Foot. An Iran-Russia Defense Pact Could Revive Them.
Commentary
A renewed defense treaty between these two powers will render Iran’s web of proxies all the more dangerous by arming already destabilizing agents with more advanced weapons te...
By Delaney Soliday & Shivane Anand
-
Our Man in Damascus? Sanctions and Governance in Post-Assad Syria
Commentary
The complexity of the legal and policy issues presented by the sanctions thicket surrounding Syria—and the disparate authorities responsible for various parts of it—will requi...
By Alex Zerden
