Prosecutors in Washington have charged a US citizen for joining ISIS in Syria, a statement from the Justice Department said Wednesday.
According to the charges, Lirim Sylejmani conspired to provide and provided material support to the terrorist group between 2015 and 2019.
The department also said he received military training.
"The defendant is a US citizen who abandoned the country that welcomed him to join ISIS in Syria," acting US Attorney Sherwin said in the statement. "He will now be held accountable for his actions in an American courtroom."
Sylejmani, who was born in Kosovo, was captured by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) last year, according to the statement, before facing investigation by the FBI's Washington Field Office Joint Terrorism Task Force.
The question of how to handle captured foreign ISIS militants has vexed Western governments, with the US vying for European countries to repatriate and try their own citizens.
Nations such as France and Britain reject the return of battle-hardened supporters of ISIS.
Some European governments, including Britain, have revoked the citizenship of a number of citizens over alleged ISIS links.
But the US has pushed back against these approaches.
"Leaving them in the desert is not an effective solution. It makes it more likely they're going to find their way back to the battlefield, and accepting that risk is not being tough on terrorism," the US State Department's counterterrorism coordinator Nathan Sales told a meeting in Brussels last year.
Plus, it could put an undue burden on Middle Eastern countries already dealing with their own former ISIS-fighter citizens, according to the US.
