The grisly murder of the Jordanian pilot and the beheading of the second Japanese hostage did not surprise those who know how Daesh deals with its foes (and estranged friends) and how it has established a reign of fear accompanied by beheadings, stoning, massacres, the cleansing of occupied territories of religious and ethnic minorities and the enslaving of female prisoners. Daesh is in fact following in the footsteps of tribal forces from medieval times with no rules and principles for fighting a war, except to behave like a killing machine. For many people, Al-Qaeda has now become a past force while its ex-commanders and regional leaders from various parts of the Middle East and the Pak-Afghan quagmire are offering their allegiance to Daesh leader, Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, and are replacing Al-Qaeda's apparatus and legacy with Daesh's stamp of brutality. Their counterpart in Africa, Boko Haram are doing exactly the same thing in Nigeria and neighboring countries by creating a fear factor. The time has come to realize that diplomacy and dialogue cannot work with these terrorist organizations, as they will use any concession to regroup and rearm and then to strike back with increased bloodletting. While we see the African Union backing a plan to deploy 7,500 soldiers to fight Boko Haram, we wonder where is the “coalition of the willing” to take on Daesh. We need to realize that both Daesh and Boko Haram have a wider regional and international agenda and that if they are not tackled today (though we are already late by years), tomorrow will be far more frightening. Without boots on the ground, there is no possibility of destroying Daesh, Boko Haram and other religious and sectarian outfits. At the same time, religious scholars need to work together to come up with a counter-narrative to what Daesh, Boko Haram and Al-Qaeda have been using to justify their acts of terror. Without an authoritative counter-narrative, terrorist organizations will keep attracting disillusioned and vulnerable youth to their folds while promising the revival of the Caliphate to rule the world. Someone needs to tell these youth that we are not living in medieval times – if you want to rule the world, you need to excel in science, technology and economics, not in beheading and stoning. An authoritative counter-narrative by respected religious scholars and boots on the ground are necessary to take the war on terror to its logical conclusion. Humanity is awaiting action. Masood Khan, Jubail
