Eighteen years have passed since brutal and deadly attacks on US soil on September 11, 2001, launched a seemingly never-ending conflict, with violence spreading from Afghanistan to Iraq and Yemen. ISIS’s emergence reignited not only active hostilities but also attacks causing countless casualties in Paris, Brussels, Tunis, and even in a village in Tajikistan. These conflicts involve violent non-state armed groups – first Al Qaeda and the Taliban, and al Qaeda offshoots, and ISIS of course — and those that the idea of a Caliphate inspired all over the world. Although Guantanamo remains open and many experts believe that ISIS will strike again,  questions related to the end of this never-ending war have begun to arise.

 

This workshop will attempt to provide an answer to the following questions: When conflicts end and how? In the context of never-ending wars, how do wars between states differ from wars against non-state actors, if at all? What comes next? The experts at this workshop will explore some of the security and legal issues that will dominate the academic and practitioner discourse going forward and will use ISIS as a case study.