Countries should take back female former ISIS members that are not radical: Former US Ambassador

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Countries should take back female citizens that were members of the Islamic State (ISIS) who are not radical, Peter Galbraith, the former United States Ambassador to Croatia, told Kurdistan 24 at the Middle East Peace and Security Forum hosted by the American University of Kurdistan (AUK) on Wednesday. 

Galbraith has helped secure the release of a Canadian woman being held in a displacement camp in northeast Syria back in June, CBS reported. He also helped get her four-year-old daughter out of the camp and to relatives in Canada earlier this year. 

While it took almost five months before the Canadian woman could return, "now she does have the documents and she is going back." 

Galbraith explained the importance of such initiatives. 

"If you have a war on terror or war on anybody, you want to have some of the enemy come over to your side," he told Kurdistan 24.

He added that this is particularly important in cases "where people genuinely have changed sides and where they provided significant help as this Canadian woman did."

The woman reportedly played a key role in helping officials locate a missing Yezidi child in one of the camps. Until now, hundreds of Yezidi women and children are still missing despite the complete territorial defeat of ISIS in Syria and Iraq.

"She clearly demonstrated that she is not radical," Galbraith said. "I think countries should take back people like that because otherwise, you have no incentive for anybody to give up."

However, he added it's up to the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to decide on repatriation cases. 

"And in this case, they were willing to be helpful precisely because this woman cooperated with American law enforcement and because she has been instrumental in rescuing a child," he said. 

"But otherwise, it's not up to me. These repatriations, if they take place, have to be done by governments," he added. 

A former staff member of the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations from 1979 to 1993, Galbraith uncovered former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's use of chemical weapons against the Kurds.

Ambassador Galbraith enjoys good relations with the AANES in northeast Syria and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). He is a regular visitor to both regions.