When society, identity, and security align: repatriation strategies in Central Asia

Thousands of nationals, referred to as foreign terrorist fighters and their families, who travelled to Syria and Iraq with the Islamic State and other groups, had remained in detention sites in north-east Syria from 2019 to 2026. This situation created humanitarian and security dilemmas for states of origin. While many governments resisted large-scale returns, Central Asian states repeatedly repatriated their nationals, though their approaches differed in scale, scope, and framing. To explain repatriation variation in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan, this article analyzes the interplay of societal norms and traditions, state identity and branding narratives, and state security threat construction. The research draws on 63 semi-structured interviews with front-line practitioners, officials, international civil servants, and academics, conducted in 2022–2023 and 2024–2025. The findings indicate that repatriation strategies expanded when narratives of belonging, family responsibility, and preventive security aligned. When these factors conflicted, strategies became more securitized and limited in scope. The analysis also identifies recurring blind spots in gendered and age-based categories that undermined individualized assessment. The study contributes to debates on post-Soviet governance by linking counterterrorism to legitimacy, social order, and threat construction, and by specifying scope conditions under which similar dynamics may shape repatriation elsewhere.