Counterterrorism

ISIL ‘will be defeated’ – US General John Allen on tackling the new terrorism

2015 was one of the most lethal years for Europe in decades, coinciding with the rise the so-called Islamic State (ISIL) militant group. What will 2016 hold and how does one combat this threat?

To discuss these issues, retired US Marine Corps four-star General John Allen, the US-appointed coordinator at the Global Coalition to counter ISIL until last year, joined euronews’ Isabelle Kumar on the sidelines of the Globsec security conference in Bratislava, Slovakia.

Isabelle Kumar, euronews: “Given the gains that ISIL is making, do you get the impression that we are in this for the long run?”

General John Allen, Former anti-ISIL coalition coordinator: “We have to be. And I would make sure we’re clear that there are areas where they (ISIL) are not making gains, there are areas where they’re experiencing some significant reverses. But the difference of where this organisation is today than where it was 18 months ago is that there has emerged a constellation of what they call distant provinces, ‘wilayats’, and those range from North Africa all the way to South East Asia. That’s a troubling development, we’re going to have watch that closely and probably deal with it in a regional manner. But the challenge, I think, will come from the global network that ties those provinces together to the centre in Iraq and Syria. That’s really what we have to watch closely.”