But Islamic State still has thousands of battle-hardened fighters across several countries, and questions loom over whether the group's territorial loss is an enduring defeat.
WASHINGTON, United States - Now that the Islamic State group has officially lost its geographic "caliphate," the Pentagon is marking a historic moment in its years-long campaign to defeat the jihadists.
The objective is "to be able to maintain persistent capabilities so that an external threat cannot emanate from that in the future." In an effort to "degrade and ultimately defeat" the black-flag-flying jihadists, the United States formed a coalition that grew to more than 70 nations, several of which started bombing IS positions in 2014.Instead of committing large numbers of troops, the coalition combined its air campaign with training and advising to local forces.An American public wary of additional deployments did not want Obama recommitting more combat troops.
However, he noted, it has not solved the problem of local governance in Syria, where the gruelling civil war gave rise to the conditions that allowed IS to blossom in the first place.
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