A united coalition of Islamist Extremists, fueled by a hatred for The West and secular minority protection, is now expanding its footprint to include Afghanistan, Pakistan, Algeria, Egypt and Libya.   The capability for ISIS to expand is based in large part on the U.S. Obama policy of retreat from all regions where fighting is taking place.
Last week President Obama delivered a shocking comparison of modern terror in the name of Islam and the Christian crusades which ended in 1050 AD.  It would appear ISIS agrees with the perspective of President Obama as they announce their intentions to fight Christian nations, “nations of the cross”, which the Islamic State conflates to mean (essentially) any non-Muslim region; a global jihad.

WASHINGTON — The Islamic State is expanding beyond its base in Syria and Iraq to establish militant affiliates in Afghanistan, Algeria, Egypt, and Libya, US intelligence officials assert, raising the prospect of a new global war on terror.
Intelligence officials estimate that the group’s fighters number 20,000 to 31,500 in Syria and Iraq.
There are less formal pledges of support from “probably at least a couple hundred extremists” in countries such as Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, and Yemen, said a US counterterrorism official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss confidential information about the group.
Lieutenant General Vincent R. Stewart, the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, said in an assessment this month that the Islamic State is assembling a growing international following.

Nicholas Rasmussen, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, echoed Stewart’s analysis in testimony before Congress last week.
But it is unclear how effective these affiliates are, or to what extent this is an opportunistic rebranding by some jihadist upstarts hoping to draft new members by playing off the notoriety of the Islamic State.
Critics fear such assessments will once again enmesh the United States in a protracted, hydra-headed conflict as President Obama appeals to Congress for new war powers to fight the Islamic State.
“I’m loath to write another blank check justifying the use of American troops just about anywhere,” said Representative Adam B. Schiff of California, the senior Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee.
The sudden proliferation of Islamic State affiliates and loyalist fighters motivated the White House’s push to give Obama and his successor new authority to pursue the group wherever its followers emerge — just as he and President George W. Bush hunted Al Qaeda franchises outside the group’s headquarters, first in Afghanistan and then in Pakistan, for the past decade.  (read more)

The key point is one intentionally ignored by the political left.  It doesn’t matter whether or not the U.S. and Western interests choose to fight ISIS.  ISIS will attack any Western target regardless of provocation or the lack thereof. 
For fundamental Islamists this is a global jihad, a religious war, to reestablish an Islamic Caliphate.