Interviewed on CNN today, retired Gen. John Allen, recently replaced as the US Special Envoy to the war against ISIS, offered an extremely pessimistic assessment of the war, saying that the US needs to address the causes of "symptoms" like ISIS and al-Qaeda, and failing that will be "condemned to fight forever."

Historically, the US hasn't been particularly good at even identifying the causes of insurgencies against US-backed governments, let alone making any credible efforts to address those problems. Notably, Gen. Allen didn't make any real effort to identify the causes he thought the US needs to address either.

Rather, Allen simply insisted that the locals "understand the region better" and that the US should "work closely with them" to resolve the underlying conditions which are fueling growing recruitment to such Islamist factions.