Foreign fighters joining ISIS has become a menace for global peace: US

Washington: The US has said there is an unprecedented flow of foreign fighters to war-torn Syria and Iraq from across the globe including India, as this ‘dangerous menace’ threatens global peace and stability. The Obama administration is preparing grounds for over 70 countries to make a collective effort to challenge this dangerous menace that threatens global peace and stability, US Secretary of State John Kerry said yesterday. Internationally, there is an unprecedented flow of foreign terrorist fighters to Syria and Iraq with more than 20,000 such fighters from more than 100 nations traveling to Syria since the beginning of the conflict, including at least 3,400 from the West. Foreign fighters from India have also reached to Iraq and Syria to join ISIS. As part of its goal, the US yesterday hosted an Information Sharing Ministerial on the margins of White House Summit on Countering Violent Extremism. The Ministerial is focusing on actionable steps to disrupt foreign terrorist fighters travel to and from conflict zones. Participants for this ministerial meeting on foreign fighters included Australia, Canada, Denmark, European Union, France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the UN among others. [caption id=“attachment_2093759” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters[/caption] Next week, the US will host the Global Counterterrorism Forum’s Foreign Terrorist Fighter Working Group workshop - Raising Community Awareness to Address Foreign Terrorist Fighter Phenomenon - to focus on ways in which communities and governments can develop specific programs and efforts to address the issue of foreign terrorist fighters. “The foreign fighter phenomenon is not limited to Syria and Iraq, though clearly we’ve seen the deadly impact of the flow of foreign fighters over the past weeks and months. The people that groups like Daesh are recruiting can come from any country. They can be male or female. They can be of any ethnicity, with or without spiritual convictions,” Kerry said at the White House summit. According to Kerry, estimates suggest more than 20,000 people from more than 100 different countries have traveled to Syria or Iraq to join Daesh’s ranks. “And although more than half of them are from the Middle East, they could come literally from anywhere. Recruits from Western Europe, for example, number almost 4,000. This is unprecedented,” he said. “During the conflict in Afghanistan back in the 1980s, some 20,000 foreign fighters traveled to that country to join the fight, but that was over the course of a decade. “What we’ve seen happen has been happening since last summer. We’re talking about the same number of foreign fighters joining Daesh in total, when you look what’s happening in Syria, over the course of the last three or four years,” Kerry said. In September at the UN Security Council, US President Barack Obama chaired a high-level meeting on the challenge that is posed by foreign fighters. “And that gathering, coupled with the launch of the global coalition to counter Daesh, has motivated countries all over the world to intensify their efforts and to find appropriate ways to share information,” he said. The State Department will also be increasing its support for Interpol for their work on foreign terrorist fighters so that it can more effectively serve as a principal information sharing platform among the many member states. “We are committed to helping our foreign partners build the capacity to help control the flow of foreign fighters from within their borders,” Kerry said. US Attorney General Eric Holder said America is actively supporting Interpol’s Fusion Cell which focuses on information -sharing relating to foreign fighters. PTI