The issue focused on an article in Time Magazine about the United States and the European Union's response to the Syrian civil war, which began in March 2013. It was published with a headline that suggested that U.S. efforts to combat Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) and al Qaeda-backed militants in Syria were ineffectual.

According to the article's headline, IS and al Qaeda have established a "new caliphate." The article cited unnamed U.S. intelligence officials as saying