The Islamic State group\u2019s physical caliphate in Iraq and Syria has been destroyed, but the group is not defeated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Just a few years ago, ISIS controlled vast territory over Syria, Iraq and the Euphrates River valley, including lucrative oil fields to finance their regime. But much of that came to an end as U.S.-backed Iraqi and Syrian forces liberated ISIS\u2019 urban strongholds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the start of 2018, the extremist group is barely holding onto scant desert terrain out in Iraq\u2019s Anbar province and a few towns and villages along the Euphrates River banks in Syria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the fight isn\u2019t over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi\u2019s government is still struggling to deal with sectarian divisions and rampant poverty. And billions of dollars will be needed to repair and rebuild cities and infrastructure destroyed by the fighting during the past three years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Expect ISIS fighters to \u201cexploit local conflicts to re-stoke an insurgency,\u201d said Katherine Zimmerman, a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
ISIS fighters have spread out across Iraq, holding onto small pockets in the Jazeera desert in Anbar province, and the group can still use this terrain to launch large scale attacks against major population centers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The group also may now be looking to reconstitute itself in ungoverned spaces in Africa, Yemen and East Asia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cISIS is already projected forward into Africa and South Asia to build branches that will continue to carry the ISIS flag,\u201d Zimmerman said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
U.S. forces have recently ramped up strikes against ISIS targets in Libya, Somalia and Yemen. U.S. officials say these strikes are not a part of any increased effort but simply a result of targets that have suddenly become available to strike.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cISIS will also continue to expand in South Asia. Increased sectarian tension creates fertile ground in places like Pakistan and also in the Indian subcontinent,\u201d Zimmerman said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Furthermore, while ISIS was recently routed from the Philippine city of Marawi, the group still is a major threat to the region. ISIS controlled the city for nearly three months, exacting a high toll on Philippine forces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Afghanistan is another location ISIS may attempt to lay deeper roots, but the group is struggling to maintain relevancy in the region as a result of pressure from U.S. and Afghan forces on the terror organization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Army Gen. John Nicholson, the commander of U.S forces in Afghanistan, said there is currently no evidence that ISIS fighters from Iraq and Syria are headed to Afghanistan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The group\u2019s faction in Afghanistan \u2014 known as ISIS-Khorasan, or ISIS-K \u2014 only numbers 600 to 800 fighters, Nicholson told reporters in November.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
U.S. forces have tripled the number of airstrikes in Afghanistan, and a \u201clion\u2019s share go against Daesh [ISIS],\u201d he added. U.S. and Afghan forces have killed nearly 1,600 ISIS fighters this year alone, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\t