Destroying an ideologically driven movement by military force is simply very difficult. The movement will portray any military action against it as proof of one of the group's core tenets, namely, that it is locked in a dualistic struggle with an evil force that seeks to destroy it. The United States has experienced this reality during its 13-year effort to destroy Al Qaeda’s core in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and its lengthy campaigns to destroy Al Qaeda franchise groups in places such as Yemen and Somalia.

The Yemen and Somalia precedents