Yes, everyone finds peer conflict more interesting. Yes, everyone wants to look at China in WESTPAC. Yes, everyone is concerned with Russia’s direction – and yes, after two decades of low-intensity conflict in the Muslim world, we have grown weary from Syria to AFPAK.

Our enemy has not – and Megan O’Dwyer over at Small Wars Journal has a nice little article to tap us on the shoulder and remind us we have a sprinkling of enemies who are not tired at all.

Despite complete territory loss in recent months, ISIS still has plenty of life left, and its predecessors have recovered from far more difficult situations in the past. ISIS has more manpower, money, and reliable networks than it ever had before it began controlling territory. Considering how successful the group became with less resources, its current status should still be very worrisome. Combine these factors with diminishing interest from policymakers, impending critical infrastructure shortages in Iraq, inadequate reconstruction funds to Sunni-dominated areas, and ISIS’s history of co-opting civil unrest, and suddenly an ISIS resurgence doesn’t seem so far-fetched.
…
While the U.S. can’t directly solve Iraq’s critical infrastructure shortages and reconstruction fund allocation issues, frank discussion of this bleak situation may help reverse diminishing interest from U.S. policymakers and keep resources allocated to the counter-ISIS mission. Mainstream rhetoric around the group’s alleged defeat doesn’t acknowledge that ISIS is much better situated to resurge now than it was leading up to 2014, tempting policymakers to shift focus to more enticing inter-state tensions. Military action on the part of the U.S. will not lead to ISIS’s lasting defeat, but continued counter-ISIS efforts are critical to allowing the Iraqi Government the time and space necessary to address systemic issues that feed into ISIS’s resurgence efforts.

Worth a full read – along with her links.