Dr. Nader Hashemi:

The Deputy is correct. The problem that has produced ISIS is that the Governments in the two existing states of Iraq and Syria suffer from a deep crisis of illegitimacy. In the case of Iraq about 20% of the population, the Sunni population do not trust the Government and feel they have been marginalised and excluded by the Baghdad Government. The strategy that President Obama has laid out is I think a strategy that will work in Iraq if we can stick to that strategy. One has to give the central Government in Baghdad political legitimacy and push it to be more inclusive, to bring in the Sunnis and to get them to turn away from al-Qaeda as their political representation and a voice to air their set of grievances and come back and work with them in the context of an Iraqi political union in a country that actually works. That is the correct strategy.

The same strategy also needs to be applied to the case of Syria. In Syria, the conflict is much more complicated. Some 70% of the population in Syria are Sunnis and they view the existing Government in Baghdad as completely illegitimate and representative of a minority set of interests rooted in the Ba'ath Party and the Alawite sect. Those basic principles of political legitimacy as a way of dealing with the ISIS crisis and draining the Sunni population away from ISIS towards the central Governments that are democratic and inclusive is the right strategy to pursue. It will take a long time because there is a lot of disillusionment, anger and marginalisation. Broadly speaking that is the way forward and that is a role the international community can and should play.

With respect to questions on troops, most of the reports state there are about 30,000 to 40,000 ISIS fighters. I have never heard a figure of 200,000, but of the 30,000 to 40,000, about half of them are foreign fighters. The vast majority are disgruntled Sunni young men from Iraq and Syria. Many of the foreign fighters are from neighbouring Arab countries, from Morocco to as far as Indonesia. The vast majority come from Iraq and Syria. As I just stated these young Sunni men from Iraq and Syria feel their existing political systems are non-representative, unaccountable and irredeemable. They joined ISIS as a way of finding some hope for a better future.

The challenge of draining away and convincing young Sunni disgruntled men that their future lies with their own Governments and not with this Islamic State is a long-term solution but one that must be rooted in trying to increase the political legitimacy, inclusiveness and democratic nature of the existing political systems. That will not happen overnight. It will take a long time.

I think that the plan that President Obama laid out with respect to Iraq is the right plan. The problem is that President Obama has not said anything about a political solution for Syria, except the usual general talking points. As I said before there is no solution to the ISIS crisis unless there is a solution for Syria's political future. That is the major question that hangs over our heads and needs to be dealt with.