Disagreements and disagreement between the United States and Europe over the fate of IS fighters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States has criticized European countries' demand that Iraq prosecute ISIS members as "irresponsible" in a veiled criticism of France's refusal to receive its deported citizens.

"The United States believes it is inappropriate to ask Iraq in particular to shoulder the additional burden of foreign fighters, especially from Europe," said Nathan Sills, the State Department's counterterrorism coordinator.

"Nobody should expect the United States or anyone else to solve that problem on their behalf," he told reporters after a meeting of more than 30 nations in Washington on countering ISIL. "We all have a shared responsibility to ensure that ISIS fighters cannot return to the battlefield and to prevent ISIS has inspired or inspired extremist generation of terrorists. "

ISIS has lost almost all of the territory it has controlled in Syria and Iraq but remains a security threat in Syria and abroad. Around 10,000 ISIS members and tens of thousands of family members are still being held in camps in northeastern Syria guarded by Syrian Kurdish forces allied to the United States. .

The United States wants ISIS fighters to return to their countries for prosecution or rehabilitation, but Europe does not want to prosecute its ISIS citizens on its territory because of the difficulties of gathering evidence that condemns them and their fear of attacks on their territory.

Sills warned that ISIS fighters being held by the SDF could flee. "It's Syria. We all know that things there may change in the blink of an eye," he said.

French response
On the other hand, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told reporters after the meeting that the fighters "should be brought to justice as soon as possible because of the crimes they committed," referring to the unwillingness to send them home.

US Special Representative for Syria Jim Jeffrey said there was a "disagreement" among the member states of the coalition fighting ISIS over whether the countries of origin of ISIS militants should receive their detained citizens.

"There is a difference of opinion as to whether they should be extradited or whether these countries will consider and study something in more detail. But this was recognized as a major problem," he told a news conference on the sidelines of the meeting.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urged coalition members to restore foreign militants and boost funding to help rebuild infrastructure in Iraq and Syria, which have been badly hit by the conflict.

"Alliance members must take back thousands of detained foreign terrorist fighters and hold them accountable for their atrocities," Pompeo said in a speech at the opening of a meeting of foreign ministers of member states of the International Coalition Against ISIL.

Deportation of fighters
In the meantime, Turkey said it would deport an American fighter from ISIS after Greece refused to enter the territory, and sent eight foreigners with links to the organization to Germany and Britain.

On Monday, Turkish authorities announced that they had begun deporting the detained ISIS fighters, beginning with the deportation of two German and one American, and said they would deport 23 more prisoners, all Europeans, in the coming days.

Greek police said Turkish police officers had come to a border post at the Greek town of Kastanis and demanded the extradition of a US citizen of Arab descent who had been accompanying him to Greece after he was overstayed in Turkey.

Greek police added that the authorities refused to allow the man to enter and was returned to Turkey. But Turkish state media said he remained in a border area between the two countries.

The US Interior Ministry said on Thursday that the United States had agreed to take back the fighter, who had asked to be deported to Greece ahead of his entry, and that Turkish authorities had begun the necessary measures.