While the United States has called on allies to take back and punish their own ISIS fighters in Syria, New Zealand's politicians seem less than keen to bring home their "bumbling jihadi".
New Zealander Mark Taylor was captured and is being held by the Syrian Democratic Forces after serving nearly five years with Islamic State.
The 42-year-old made headlines after revealing ISIS locations in a bragging tweet in 2014 and was placed on a US watchlist for promoting terrorist attacks in Australia and New Zealand through videos on social media.
He was also in Australia on-and-off over 25 years and was deported by ASIO in 2010 as a security threat.
New Zealand jihadi Mark Taylor. The NZ government does not want him to return home after his time in Syria. Source: Supplied
Questions now remain about what happens to him from here.
"If he can stay over there and be other people's issue, I think that's what New Zealanders would want," New Zealand opposition leader Simon Bridges told reporters on Tuesday.
"It's not our responsibility to bail out a terrorist ... He's made his bed."
However, Bridges - like New Zealand's government - accepts Taylor is a Kiwi citizen with no passports elsewhere and legally can't be kept out.
Mark Taylor was placed on a United States terrorist watchlist after he “used social media, including appearing in a 2015 IS propaganda video". Source: Supplied
Last month, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urged members of the global coalition to defeat Islamic State - which includes New Zealand - to repatriate their foreign fighters and prosecute them.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says officials will issue Taylor an "emergency travel document" (he has no current passport) to get to New Zealand, but he'd have to make it to a consulate in Turkey first.
On Tuesday she told the AM Show while New Zealand accepted Taylor was its problem, her government was making no efforts to get him freed.
"We do not have individuals on the ground able to facilitate anyone's return directly from this detention centre," Ardern later told reporters.
"That is why we made it very clear from the beginning that New Zealanders should not travel in Syria."
Columns of black smoke billow from the last small piece of territory held by IS militants as US-backed fighters pounded the area with artillery. Source: AP
Kiwi diplomats aren't obliged to help get Taylor on a plane either, begging the question of how he'd travel back, given he's on international terrorist watchlists.
Nonetheless, politicians have moved to assure the public Taylor could face charges under New Zealand law if he made it back, including some offences which carry lengthy prison sentences.
Taylor told the ABC he had only been deployed as a guard by ISIS before surrendering in December due to a collapse of basic services.
He also lamented being unable to afford a female slave.
In some recent cases, Kurdish officials have called on western countries to repatriate ISIS recruits being held in Syria.
The last piece of territory held by IS militants in Baghouz has been pounded by US-backed forces. Source: APP
New Zealand intelligence officials last month said there were a "small but concerning" number of Kiwis remaining in Syria.
Authorities have declined to confirm an exact figure but it is speculated to be five or fewer.
