Online
\nUNITED NATIONS
\nThe United States diplomatic isolation grew when it stood alone in the UN Security Council to veto a resolution on the fate of thousands of foreign jihadists being held in Syria and Iraq.
\nThe other 14 members of the Security Council supported the Indonesia-drafted resolution that encouraged countries to prosecute, rehabilitate and then reintegrate into society their nationals who had enlisted in foreign \u201cterrorist\u201d causes.
\nBut the United States refused to back the resolution because it did not demand countries actively repatriate foreign fighters who travelled to the Middle East to join Al Qaeda and the Islamic State Group.
\nThe US veto highlighted the growing divide between Washington and its European allies, as well as Arab countries, who have refused to commit to taking back foreign fighters since allied forces crushed the Islamic State over a year ago.
\nThousands of foreign fighters and their families remain in prison camps in Syria and Iraq as countries resist taking them back.
\nWashington, whose insistence on including the word \u201crepatriation\u201d in the text was originally backed by Moscow, has long pressed the idea of repatriating foreign fighters detained in Syria and Iraq.
\nSome European countries, including France and Belgium, have adopted a case-by-case approach to repatriating the children or even wives of jihadist fighters held in the Middle East.
\nAnd the aim of the Indonesian text was to encourage actions that would combat recidivism among those who joined extremists.
\nBut mostly the other countries have preferred that their nationals stand trial and face punishment in the countries where their crimes were committed, putting the onus mainly on Iraq to deal with them.
\n\u201cThe Indonesian resolution before us, supposedly designed to reinforce international action on counterterrorism, was worse than no resolution at all,\u201d said US UN Ambassador Kelly Craft.
\n\u201cIt fails to even include reference to the crucial first step – repatriation to countries of origin or nationality,\u201d she said.
\nBut another diplomat, insisting on anonymity, said the use of the veto had \u201cbecome very cheap,\u201d adding that it was \u201cvery damaging\u201d to cross-Atlantic relations.
\nThe decision by the United States to use its veto power was striking and seemed to show Washington s growing irritation with its European partners, with whom it had until now worked to reach consensus on international affairs.
\nEarlier this month, the Europeans rejected a US draft resolution that aimed to extend an arms embargo on Iran, as part of a US effort to re-establish international sanctions on Tehran.
\nLast week, during a debate on counter-terrorism, Craft slammed the Europeans for \u201cputting their head in the sand\u201d when facing the \u201cserious threat\u201d posed by foreign fighters, just as she said they were doing with Iran.
\nThe US veto was a blow to Indonesia which had made the text one of the priorities of its presidency of the Security Council this month.
\nIt called the deployment of the veto \u201cillogical,\u201d while other diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity, called the US move \u201cchildish.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Online UNITED NATIONS The United States diplomatic isolation grew when it stood alone in the UN Security Council to veto a resolution on the fate of thousands of foreign jihadists being held in Syria and Iraq. The other 14 members of the Security Council supported the Indonesia-drafted resolution that encouraged countries to prosecute, rehabilitate and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":141858,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-141843","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n