--- description: The Kurdish struggle to hold on to Syrian border town isn't all good news title: What the Failure of ISIS to Take Khobani Means image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfc27518444039b0c/698762d406f2c1181b331966/457876964.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Politics](/section/politics/) ## Politics Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Military](/tag/military/) ## Military Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # What the Failure of ISIS to Take Kobani Means by [Mark Thompson](/author/mark-thompson/) ## Mark Thompson Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Oct 27, 2014 2:01 AM CUT  Smoke rises from the Syrian town of Kobani following a U.S.-led air strike on Sunday. Smoke rises from the Syrian town of Kobani following a U.S.-led air strike on Sunday.Sercan Kucuksahin / Anadolu Agency / Getty Images) by [Mark Thompson](/author/mark-thompson/) ## Mark Thompson Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Oct 27, 2014 2:01 AM CUT Coming back after two weeks away, it’s surprising that the Syrian town of Kobani hasn’t fallen to the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria. Pentagon officials were predicting earlier this month that ISIS fighters would overrun the town, near the Turkish border, by mid-October, followed by widespread slaughters among the conquered population. That hasn’t happened. And while that’s obviously good news in the short term for the city’s 200,000 largely-Kurdish residents, it’s tougher to handicap what it means for the long-term U.S.-led effort to “degrade and destroy” ISIS. Earlier this month, U.S. military officers were speaking of ISIS’s “momentum,” and how its string of military successes over the past year meant that quickly halting its advance would likely prove difficult if not impossible. Yet, as far as Kobani is concerned, that seems to be what is taking place. But that raises the stakes for the U.S. and its allies. Having smothered ISIS’s momentum, an eventual ISIS victory in the battle for Kobani would be a more devastating defeat for the U.S. military than an earlier collapse of the town. There are concerns that the focus on saving Kobani is giving ISIS free reign elsewhere in its self-declared caliphate—that the U.S., in essence, could end up winning the battle while losing the war. “The U.S. air campaign has turned into an unfocused mess,” Anthony Cordesman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies [wrote](http://csis.org/publication/imploding-us-strategy-islamic-state-war "undefined") Friday. “The U.S. has shifted limited air strike resources to focus on Syria and a militarily meaningless and isolated small Syrian Kurdish enclave at Kobani at the expense of supporting Iraqi forces in Anbar and intensifying the air campaign against other Islamic State targets in Syria.” Senator Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., expressed frustration that the Obama Administration believes its latest fight against ISIS will yield success when the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq didn’t. “We understand the definition of insanity: continue to do the same thing and expect something different to happen,” he said Sunday on CBS’s _Face the Nation_. “If we can contain them there, leave them there, I don’t know what else to do. They’re intent on destroying each other, and they’ve been doing it for 1,400 years.” The chattering classes are likewise not impressed by the fight for Kobani and the overall U.S. strategy against ISIS. “The town, once dismissed as inconsequential by American commanders, has become not only a focus of the American operation against the Islamic State, known as ISIS, but also a test of the administration’s strategy, which is based on airstrikes on ISIS-controlled areas in Syria and reliance on local ground forces to defeat the militants,” the _New York Times_ [said](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/24/opinion/why-kobani-must-be-saved.html?%5Fr=1 "undefined") in a Friday editorial. “A setback in Kobani would show the fragility of the American plan and hand the Islamic State an important victory.” On Sunday, the _Washington Post_ [declared](http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/mr-obamas-half-hearted-fight-against-the-islamic-state/2014/10/24/77d7a74c-5b8f-11e4-b812-38518ae74c67%5Fstory.html "undefined") Obama’s strategy “unworkable,” and said “the United States will have to broaden its aims and increase its military commitment if the terrorists are to be defeated” (the _Post_‘s advocacy for the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq should be kept in mind while listening to such drumbeats). For its part, the Pentagon is willing to trade 2003’s “shock and awe” bombing of Baghdad for a long-term campaign of modest and persistent air strikes that can stall ISIS until better-trained Iraqi forces and yet-to-be-tapped-for-training Syrian rebels can begin reclaiming territory. The U.S. military is willing to take its time, not that it has much choice, given the situation on the ground and the curbs placed on it by the White House. “Here we are not three months into it and there are critics saying it’s falling apart; it’s failing; the strategy is not sound,” Rear Admiral John Kirby, the Pentagon spokesman, said Friday. “The strategy is sound and it’s working and there’s no plans to deviate it from right now.” The Pentagon has made clear from the start that the battle against ISIS “will be a years-long effort,” Kirby said. “So I think a little bit of patience is required here.” Patience, of course, has never been an American trait. Democracies in general are ill-suited to waging lengthy wars. But one thing the Pentagon has on its side is the dearth of casualties so far in what some are calling the third Iraq war. A Marine was [killed](http://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story%5Fid=83658 "undefined") Oct. 1 when he jumped from a V-22 aircraft in the Persian Gulf because he feared the aircraft was going to crash (it didn’t). A second Marine [died](http://www.defense.gov/Releases/Release.aspx?ReleaseID=16997 "undefined") in Baghdad Oct. 23 in what the Pentagon called a “non-combat-related incident.” If the U.S. can turn the campaign against ISIS into a sustained, low-casualty operation like the drone wars it has been secretly waging for years in Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen, the public may go along. Whether that will be sufficient to degrade ISIS is, of course, a separate issue. _Read next:_ [_19-Year-Old Marine Is First Soldier to Die Fighting ISIS in Iraq_](http://time.com/3540044/first-marine-death-iraq-isis/?xid=time%5Freadnext "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3540401/kobani-isis-islamic-state-pentagon/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3540401/kobani-isis-islamic-state-pentagon/"},"headline":"What the Failure of ISIS to Take Kobani Means","datePublished":"2014-10-27T02:01:52.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T11:01:08.324Z","description":"The Kurdish struggle to hold on to Syrian border town isn't all good news","url":"https://time.com/3540401/kobani-isis-islamic-state-pentagon/","keywords":["Military","Syria","Iraq","Terrorism","National Security","Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfc27518444039b0c/698762d406f2c1181b331966/457876964.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mark Thompson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/mark-thompson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfc27518444039b0c/698762d406f2c1181b331966/457876964.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US-led coalition forces hit ISIL targets in Kobani","caption":"US-led coalition forces hit ISIL targets in Kobani","creditText":"Sercan Kucuksahin / Anadolu Agency / Getty Images)","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/military/","name":"Military"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3540401/kobani-isis-islamic-state-pentagon/","name":"What the Failure of ISIS to Take Kobani Means"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Clashes Between ISIS and Kurdish Troops in Syrian Border Town Kobani","description":"Clashes Between ISIS and Kurdish Troops in Syrian Border Town","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/5Bh9ox8v/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-10-27T08:16:53.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/5Bh9ox8v.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3540401/kobani-isis-islamic-state-pentagon/","duration":"PT30S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3540401/kobani-isis-islamic-state-pentagon/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Why So Many Foreign Fighters Join ISIS","description":"A growing number of foreigners is joining the Islamic militant group - but why?","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/xvTQSd5R/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-09-05T19:18:34.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/xvTQSd5R.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3540401/kobani-isis-islamic-state-pentagon/","duration":"PT2M58S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3540401/kobani-isis-islamic-state-pentagon/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```