Following the death of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and the decision by President Donald Trump to remove U.S. troops from northern Syria, there are many questions surrounding the future of the region, which is controlled in part by Al-Qaeda-affiliated extremists, former Special Presidential Envoy for the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS Brett McGurk told Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies Director Michael McFaul on the World Class podcast.



ISIS initially gained momentum in Syria in 2012, when the government had eroded and a state of anarchy was developing, said McGurk, who is the Payne Distinguished Lecturer at the Center for International Security and Cooperation. “Starting in 2012 and 2013, thousands of foreign extremist fighters were pouring into Syria, looking for extremist groups to join. And Baghdadi’s guys — which became ISIS — basically took advantage of this.”

By 2014, ISIS controlled a territory with about eight million people and had revenues of about $1 billion a year, McGurk noted.

“I was an early advocate that we needed military force almost immediately,” he said. “To get someone recruited right into Syria, then go blow himself up at a kid’s soccer game, or an ice cream shop — if you have that pipeline, you know you have something pretty serious.” 

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The Anti-ISIS Strategy
In the summer of 2014, President Barack Obama decided to take action, with a few conditions: first, that the coalition against ISIS would be broad, and include countries outside of the United States; second, that U.S. troops would work with local partners in Iraq and Syria to fight the terror group; and third, that the coalition would share the costs and burdens associated with the military campaign.

“The campaign launched during the third week of August or so during that summer, and it was a real war,” McGurk said. “It was a very difficult, town-by-town struggle, but a successful war.”

The Death of al-Baghdadi
While al-Baghdadi will be replaced by a successor, the former ISIS leader is “somewhat irreplaceable,” said McGurk. He claimed to be a caliph — a religious leader in Islam believed to be a successor to the Prophet Mohammed — and in 2014 declared the territory controlled by ISIS in Iraq and Syria a caliphate, or Islamic state.

“People around the world who pledge allegiance to ISIS pledge allegiance to him — so Baghdadi is a unique figure,” McGurk said. “His removal from the scene is excellent news.”

Related: Read Brett McGurk’s thoughts on what it takes for U.S. foreign policy to succeed in the Middle East

Distinguished alumni, their relatives, and friends gathered at SCPKU on October 8, 2019 to celebrate the 100th Anniversary of Yenching University, which until 1952 operated on the current site of Peking University. We were honored by the attendance of so many illustrious guests, including Isabel Crook, recent recipient of the Medal of Friendship awarded by President XI Jinping; He Liliang, a senior diplomat and wife of Yenching graduate, Huang Hua (former vice chairman of National People’s Congress); and Wei Mingyi, an alumnus of Yenching University and former president of the CITIC Group.

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Xu Wan, Han Jialin, Wei Mingyi, Isabel Crook, He Liliang, Jean Oi, Michael Crook, Xu Lian cutting the ribbon for the Stuart Room

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Front row: Children and friends of famous Yenching faculty. Back row: Carl Crook, artists Zhu Cheng and Li Bin. 

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Jean C. Oi, the Lee Shau Kee Director of SCPKU

Jean C. Oi, the Lee Shau Kee Director of SCPKU, spoke about Yenching University as a model of collaboration and friendship between the US and China. She used the occasion of the 100 Anniversary of Yenching University to announce the opening of a new state-of-the-art conference room at SCPKU.

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John Leighton Stuart Room allows state of the art, real time connectivity to over 250 classrooms, labs, conference facilities, and offices at Stanford University. 

The room was made possible by a generous gift by Cheng Jiashu (Josh), Executive Director at SCPKU, and his wife, Xu Wan, who named the room in honor of the first Yenching University President, John Leighton Stuart. Oi in thanking Josh and his wife stated that the John Leighton Stuart Room (the Stuart Room) would greatly advance the efforts begun by Yenching University and Dr. John Leighton Stuart to further US-China relations.  Dr. Stuart’s efforts in furthering US-China relations are legendary and remain an inspiration to this day. Josh Cheng and his wife have deep ties to Yenching University and to Stuart. Stuart personally recommended Xu Wan’s father, Xu Xianyu, when he graduated from Yenching University to study for a Ph.D. in mathematics in the United States in 1936. After receiving a doctorate in the United States, Dr. Xu returned to teach at Yenching University as a professor of mathematics. Xu Wan’s mother, Han Dechang, was a Yenching University music department graduate, and Josh Cheng’s mother and uncle all studied at Yenching University.

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CHENG Jiashu (Josh) and his wife, Xu Wan, unveiling the relief of John Leighton Stuart, with the copy of Li Bin’s painting of Stuart in the background

Mr. Li Bin, eminent artist of Chinese modern history, provided a wall sized copy of his famous painting “Farewell, Leighton Stuart” (see picture above) to help celebrate the occasion.

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Artist Li Bin chatting with Professor Wu Qing, whose parents were faculty at Yenching University where President John Leighton Stuart attended their wedding

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Cheng Jiashu (Josh) and He Liliang in front of John Leighton Stuart Room

Cheng Jiashu (Josh), in giving a brief history of Yenching University, noted the renewed attention Stuart has recently received from top leaders in China. He shows a clip of President XI Jinping at the G20 Summit in Hangzhou on September 4, 2016, when he identified John Leighton Stuart as one of the three historic bridge builders who helped to further establish the relationship and interaction between China and the world. President XI further added that “140 years ago, in June 1876, Mr. Stuart, who had served as US ambassador to China, was born in Hangzhou, in China. After living for more than 50 years in China, his ashes are placed in the Anxian Garden in the mid-levels of Hangzhou.”

After the ceremony and short presentation by Josh Cheng on the history of Yenching University, the audience was treated to a jubilant concert, performed by Zhao Kunyu, the Concert Master of the China National Symphony Orchestra, and an ensemble of leading young Chinese musicians.

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Zhao Kunyu, Concert Master of the China National Symphony Orchestra

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Listening to the concert and giving applause at the end of the evening

Over the past two weeks, a CIA whistleblower’s complaint, a White House record of a July 25 telephone conversation between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and texts exchanged by American diplomats have dominated the news and raised questions about the president’s handling of policy toward Ukraine. Here are five observations: SECOND PARAGRAPH First, President Trump was not doing the nation’s business on July 25. Trump has described the call as “perfect,” but the memorandum of conversation shows that he did not seek to advance U.S. interests. He did not ask Zelensky about progress in ending Russia’s war against Ukraine. He did not propose steps to facilitate more American trade. He did not raise how U.S. liquified natural gas might strengthen Ukraine’s energy security (something of interest to Secretary of Energy Rick Perry, whom Trump now says instigated a call that he did not want to make).

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