Analysis: Welcome to the ISIS Files

The New York Times and George Washington University (GWU) announced a partnership in 2018 to digitize, translate, and analyze over 15,000 pages of internal ISIS documents. Now, these documents are starting to appear on the ISIS Files website, covering topics such as ideology, war loot, agricultural programs, and files of the religious police.

According to Lorenzo Vidino, director of the GWU Program on Extremism, these ISIS files constitute one of the largest collections of original Islamic State files held by a non-governmental organization. The documents were procured by Rukmini Callimachi starting in 2015, when the Times reporter was embedded with the Iraqi military for several months. She collected tens of thousands of documents, including photos, police records, grammar books, military manuals, and tax returns.

According to Vidino, the largest batch relates to ISIS's Department of Agriculture and Livestock, indicating that the group used taxes and confiscation as main sources of income. Other files include instructions and textbooks for military training, strategy, and analysis of major historical battles - like the Battle of Dunkirk - "that reflected the Islamic State's strategic focus at that time," Vidino describes, referring to the group's territorial expansion in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Although now just a shadow of its former self, in 2014 ISIS had seized vast swathes of land and conquered major cities in Iraq and Syria. One month after declaring itself a "caliphate," a US-led coalition was formed against ISIS. By December 2017, the group had lost 95 percent of its territory. ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was killed by US special forces in October 2019.

HERE you can find the ISIS Files at George Washington University.

GWU online: www.gwu.edu