Our Unwinnable Middle East Wars? By Elan Journo The regrouped Taliban and their Islamist allies are waging a fierce comeback in Afghanistan--the launching pad for 9/11--and are actively hatching plots against us. The Islamist regime in Iran--which began an anti-American holy war decades prior to 9/11—appears poised to acquire its own nuclear weapon. Pakistan struggles to fend off Islamist forces seeking to dominate the nuclear-armed state. Many now believe that America's military operation in Afghanistan is unwinnable—even as new threats, from Iran and Pakistan, loom large.  Is there a way out of this seemingly hopeless and worsening mire? Elan Journo of the Ayn Rand Institute explains that a key problem in U.S. policy since 9/11 has been Washington’s failure to clearly identify the enemy. The Taliban, Al Qaeda, Hamas, Hezbollah, the Iranian regime are not separate problems to be dealt with piecemeal. They are part of the Islamist movement, the state-supported, ideological enemies whose members share the goal of imposing totalitarian Islamist rule worldwide, and they regard America as a prime enemy. To protect ourselves from the Islamist movement, Mr. Journo argues, requires a thorough understanding of this foe and the willingness to defeat its state supporters. Had we done that after 9/11, we could have ended the Islamist threat years ago—and we still could today. Q&A follows.