Don't show me this message again✕ The documentary followed Begum, now 21, over a period of two years (The Return) When the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) defeated Isis in Baghouz in 2019, after a months-long battle over an area of land less than 700 square metres, it marked the end of the Islamic State’s caliphate. Supposedly a paradise for Muslims, the caliphate was, in fact, a place of horror. At its height, 8 million people lived in the suffocating grip of a criminal regime that used a distorted interpretation of Islamic law to maintain control through terror and brutality. After Baghouz fell and western troops withdrew, the Kurds found themselves with almost 100,000 Isis captives on their hands. Some remained ideologically faithful to Isis, many didn’t. Almost all, though, if they came from overseas, were rejected by their home nations. From governments to opinion polls and newspaper headlines, the message to westerners who joined Isis has nearly always been the same: you are no longer welcome here.