WASHINGTON: Executions by jihadists have not changed Washington’s opposition to paying hostage ransoms, leaving it at odds with the European allies it hopes will join the fight against extremists in Iraq and Syria.
Several European nations are believed to have secretly paid millions of dollars to save their nationals, including some held by the Islamic State group that beheaded two US journalists.
US President Barack Obama has privately vented his frustration about the practice, according to the New York Times.
The paper said that during private a chat with media columnists, Obama expressed “irritation” with French President Francois Holland over his alleged negotiations with extremist groups.
Obama reportedly suggested Paris does indeed pay. France formally denies the payment of ransoms. The remarks highlight pronounced differences between how US and British authorities address demands by extremists, including IS, and how their European counterparts do.
“This is kind of a perennial issue, we go through this quite often frankly,” said Julianne Smith, who was deputy national security advisor to Vice President Joe Biden until last year.
Daniel Benjamin, the State Department’s coordinator for counterterrorism between 2009 to 2012, said the US “pressure that has been exerted on some of these governments has been considerable, and it goes up to the highest levels of the United States government and I’m quite certain that it will continue.”
Benjamin defended the official US stance: Flooding extremist groups with western cash further undermines security, and that halting ransoms altogether would see many organizations wither. “This practice is keeping terrorist groups in the field and it’s unacceptable,” he added.
In June 2013, G8 leaders affirmed their opposition to paying ransom for their kidnapped nationals. Last January, at London’s initiative, the UN Security Council adopted a similar resolution.
This month British Prime Minister David Cameron reminded nations of their commitment. “What matters is not your signature on a declaration, but not letting money be paid to terrorist kidnappers,” Cameron said.
“Because that money goes into arms... it goes into terror plots, it goes into more kidnaps.”
The effect has been negligible. According to Reporters Without Borders, 12 foreign journalists have been released by IS, most probably following ransom payments.AFP
