![\"Egypt\"](\"\/pardeeschool\/files\/2018\/03\/Egypt.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nGregory Aftandilian,<\/a>\u00a0Lecturer at the\u00a0<\/span>Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University,<\/a>\u00a0co-wrote a recent Op-Ed assessing\u00a0Egypt\u2019s campaign against ISIS affiliated fighters in the North Sinai.<\/span><\/p>\n Aftandilian’s Op-Ed, entitled “Egypt\u2019s Heavy Hand in the Sinai Unlikely to Quell Terrorist Insurgency,<\/a>” was published March 7, 2018 in\u00a0The Hill<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n From the text of the Op-Ed:<\/p>\n Despite positive pronouncements by the Sisi regime, Egypt\u2019s campaign against ISIS affiliated fighters in the North Sinai is not going well. Part of the problem is the regime\u2019s blunt force approach \u2014 indiscriminate bombing as well as the\u00a0<\/span>razing<\/span>\u00a0of entire villages and some\u00a0<\/span>extrajudicial killings<\/span>\u00a0\u2014 is ill suited to the requirements of effective counterterrorism operations. After a long period of ignoring advice from American and European experts, an increasingly stymied military command has finally begun to participate in joint\u00a0<\/span>training exercises<\/span>\u00a0with U.S. forces. It is hoped the Egyptians are open to learning from the painful lessons the U.S. took away from Iraq and Afghanistan. Early indications are not encouraging.<\/span><\/p>\n An anecdote making the rounds in Washington involves a training exercise, held in a mock village, wherein an Egyptian soldier came under attack, after returning fire, the soldier\u2019s next course of action was to call in air strikes. When his U.S. counterpart questioned his call, pointing out many villagers would likely die in such a strike, the soldier merely shrugged his shoulders and said the villagers were probably all guilty anyway. Apocryphal or not, this in microcosm captures the futility of Egypt\u2019s outdated attitudes and doctrine in the face of complex challenges posed by terrorists in North Sinai.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n