War Against ISIL Could Last Half a Century - US Special Operations Cmdr

© AP Photo / Militant website via APIn this picture released on June 26, 2015, by a website of Islamic State militants, Islamic State militants fire an anti-tank missile in Hassakeh, northeast Syria
In this picture released on June 26, 2015, by a website of Islamic State militants, Islamic State militants fire an anti-tank missile in Hassakeh, northeast Syria - Sputnik International
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The US war to destroy the Islamic State could take 50 years, US Army General Joseph Votel, the head of the Special Operations Command (SOCOM), told the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado, Department of Defense News reported.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — When the Islamic State is blocked by strong resistance in one theater of operations, it turns its attention to another, Votel explained.

“I don’t believe there’s any one strategy that we are going to apply that is immediately going to change this,” Votel said on Friday according to a report in the News. “It’s going to take a long-term approach.”

Votel compared the struggle against the Islamic State to the 50-year-long campaign that the nation of Columbia had been forced to wage against terrorism, according to the report.

Earlier in July 2015, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter praised the Special Operations Command as the “tip of the spear” of the faster, more agile armed forces the United States would need to carry out its security commitments in the coming decades.

Islamic State Determined to Create Caliphate From Spain to India

The Islamic State wants to create a new Caliphate extending from Spain to India, Joseph Votel added.

To fulfil its goal, the Islamic State has been “looking for opportunities where there is ungoverned spaces and vulnerable populations, and they are taking advantage of that,” Votel said.

Most of SOCOM's resources are now focused on Middle East and Central Asia, and the priority is to deal with the Islamic State’s efforts to establish itself and extend its power and influence throughout both those regions, Votel explained.

“I don’t know if they have a plan, as such,” he said, “but what they are trying to do is re-establish that Caliphate by looking for opportunities they can exploit.”

The first Caliphate of Islam in the seventh century began in Arabia, but over the next 70 years it rapidly spread by conquest to create a unified state extending from Spain in the west across North Africa and the Middle East to include the area of modern Iran and all the way to the borders of India.

© AFP 2023 / AHMAD AL-RUBAYE Iraqi men look at a crater left by a massive suicide car bomb attack carried out the previous day by the Islamic State group in the predominantly Shiite town of Khan Bani Saad, 20 km north of Baghdad, on July 18, 2015
Iraqi men look at a crater left by a massive suicide car bomb attack carried out the previous day by the Islamic State group in the predominantly Shiite town of Khan Bani Saad, 20 km north of Baghdad, on July 18, 2015 - Sputnik International
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Iraqi men look at a crater left by a massive suicide car bomb attack carried out the previous day by the Islamic State group in the predominantly Shiite town of Khan Bani Saad, 20 km north of Baghdad, on July 18, 2015
© AP PhotoIraqi security forces defend their positions against Islamic State group attack in Husaybah, 5 miles east of Ramadi, Iraq.
Iraqi security forces defend their positions against Islamic State group attack in Husaybah, 5 miles east of Ramadi, Iraq. - Sputnik International
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Iraqi security forces defend their positions against Islamic State group attack in Husaybah, 5 miles east of Ramadi, Iraq.
© AP Photo / Islamic State militant website Fighters of the Islamic State group
Fighters of the Islamic State group - Sputnik International
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Fighters of the Islamic State group
© AP Photo / B.K. BangashHafiz Saeed, the leader of the Islamic State terror group in Afghanistan
Hafiz Saeed, the leader of the Islamic State terror group in Afghanistan - Sputnik International
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Hafiz Saeed, the leader of the Islamic State terror group in Afghanistan
© AFP 2023 / ALBARAKA NEWSIslamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants - Sputnik International
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Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants
© AP Photo / UncreditedIslamic State militants parade in a commandeered Iraqi security forces vehicle on a main road at the northern city of Mosul.
Islamic State militants parade in a commandeered Iraqi security forces vehicle on a main road at the northern city of Mosul. - Sputnik International
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Islamic State militants parade in a commandeered Iraqi security forces vehicle on a main road at the northern city of Mosul.
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Iraqi men look at a crater left by a massive suicide car bomb attack carried out the previous day by the Islamic State group in the predominantly Shiite town of Khan Bani Saad, 20 km north of Baghdad, on July 18, 2015
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Iraqi security forces defend their positions against Islamic State group attack in Husaybah, 5 miles east of Ramadi, Iraq.
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Fighters of the Islamic State group
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Hafiz Saeed, the leader of the Islamic State terror group in Afghanistan
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Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants
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Islamic State militants parade in a commandeered Iraqi security forces vehicle on a main road at the northern city of Mosul.
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