NATO commander Gen. John Campbell today reported that ISIS is making some inroads recruiting in both Afghanistan and Pakistan with “money being passed back and forth.”
Though Campbell said that NATO doesn’t believe the force is operational in either country yet, his is the latest indication that ISIS is trying to set up shop in yet another theater of operations.
Gen. Campbell says that most of the self-styled ISIS factions operating so far are really just splinter factions from the Taliban that are rebranding to try to appear as a more credible faction on their own.
“They see this is an opportunity to gain resources and attention,” the general added. While this seems to downplay the significance of ISIS presence in the region so far, it can’t be forgotten that some of ISIS’ most significant presences outside of Iraq and Syria were established in much the same way, with groups rebranding and then getting an influx of aid and advice until they were more formidable threats to their rivals.
Is Gen. Campbell also concerned with the recruiting that is being done in London and Milwaukee and Detroit and Brisbane and Benghazi and Berlin and Manila? He should be. Seems there are a lot of pissed off Muslims around. But this is what happens when you wage war on a religion.
If the obvious motive for a group to rebrand is funding… and it's established now (isn't it?) that US 'allies' are that funding… …anyway, there are definitely gov't interests willing this.
There's the thought that surely people wouldn't want to take money from those sources, or at least to be more resistant to their influence… …if that had been a valid train of thought, there's now the complication of years of 'decapitation' strikes, is there not?
Two ways, I suppose, that one could see the-'west'-and-and-it's-allies as a primary cause, here. Perhaps the aim had always been to develop a force and then to repudiate it, even 'condemn' it, as it acted?