Breaking The ISIS Economy, Bit By Bit

The finance ministers set to meet at the United Nations can’t put the Islamic State in a financial vise. But they can deliver some critical blows to an organization already showing signs of financial strain.

And for a UN Security Council often at odds, the meeting of its finance ministers next week comes at an opportune moment, when terrorists attacks worldwide have created a sense of shared purpose – even, it seems, between the United States and Russia.

The core of the Islamic State’s wealth is, in many respects, beyond the reach of next week’s meetings, hosted by the US. Only Turkey can shut its borders to the smugglers who carry Islamic State oil and other contraband, and only military force can deprive the group of the territory it uses for extortion and taxation.

But a more coordinated effort at targeting the Islamic State’s finances can pay dividends. The US and others, for example, have used bank reports of suspicious financial transactions to more effectively target locations where the Islamic State is producing and loading oil products.

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“There are a number of actions that can be taken to reduce the financial streams, but one thing is clear: If you want to deprive ISIS of cash, you deprive it of territory,” says Jonathan Schanzer, vice president for research at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies in Washington.

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