US President Barack Obama made the case on February 11, 2015 for Congress to formally authorize the use of military force in the war against ISIS. The resolution would limit the President’s authority to wage a military campaign against ISIS to three years, and does not authorize “enduring offensive ground combat operations.” Obama’s significant decision to make the military request has drawn new attention in academia to the US strategy against ISIS, and to the possible consequences of that strategy. 

On March 12, the SIAS co-hosted a seminar on “America’s Counter-Terrorism Policy and Counter-Terrorism Trends in Asia and Africa” with the Center of West Asia and North African Studies at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences (SASS). Local academics from SASS, the Shanghai Counter-Terrorism Research Center, the Center for American Studies at Fudan University and the SIAS, as well as international experts from the US and Turkey attended the meeting. 

Panelists present discussed America’s counter-terrorism strategy in Afghanistan and Africa, the future of ISIS, the geopolitics of the Middle East and the current trends in terrorism in that part of the world. Thomas Zimmerman from New York University and Salih Tinmaz from the Wise Men Center for Strategic Studies in Turkey, spoke with local experts and shared their observations and insights on the issues.