Faced with the possibility of a joint Iraq, Iran, Turkey war against them, Iraqi Kurdistan’s Peshmerga has lost its foreign funding, with the Pentagon confirming the US has stopped providing such payments and has no intention of resuming them.
The Obama Administration made a deal to fund the Peshmerga for the sake of the ISIS War, and US officials are presenting that deal as simply having been expired and not renewed, though technically it was a 12-month deal that lasted from July of 2016 until September.
Kurdish officials say they believe the cutoff is specifically related to last month’s Kurdish referendum on independence, which overwhelmingly passed. The US has expressed opposition to Kurdish independence, saying they favor a united Iraq.
Peshmerga officials say they even had a deal all but finalized with the Trump Administration on renewing the funding before the referendum took place, but that in the lead-up to the referendum, all talks were broken off and money and weaponry dried up.
The US may be gambling on the possibility of a regional war breaking out over Kurdistan, and having come out against their independence, they’re decided they don’t want to be still subsidizing Kurdish forces.
The US wants a united Iraq, I want a united world. We can’t always have what we want, at least not when we want it. Or maybe we would no longer be arguing about unity if we were honest about our differences, everyone had the freedom to live as they chose, and the powerful were no longer allowed to take out their frustrations by killing those less powerful. The UN has a lot of potential to arbitrate this stuff, rather than rubber-stamping wars of aggression for the US and its allies.
This is positive – Trump is pulling back from an unnecessary and divisive foreign intervention.
The Kurds have been really foolish to bank on US and Israeli support against their actual neighbours who are more than powerful enough to bulldoze them. It was obvious from the start that America would abandon them as soon as the objective of defeating ISIS was achieved. Israel of course is as helpful in a military alliance as a chocolate kettle is for making tea.
Syria was considering giving the Kurds some autonomy within their borders. That would probably the best solution and Iraq should consider the same. The Kurds have been fighting for independence for years as well as against ISIS. I feel a certain sympathy for the Kurds, especially their women folk have proven to be heroic fighters. Autonomy within the borders of Syria and Iraq may satisfy them to a certain degree. The outcome of the referendum should not be ignored. It is after all the democratic expression of the majority of the people.
This is what I believe is happening in Iraq. US tried to marginalize Barzsni — easy to tell by our neocon press depicting him in colourful, and derogstory tones. With good relationship with Ankara, fighting sgainst PKK, and deals with Baghdad on energy, and referendum to boot, Barzani secured leadership against PKK challenge. Now, there will be negotiations, already hinted at by Baghdad. All countries of the region frowned upon independence, but eill settle for autonomy thst is actually legsl, not informal like in Iraq today. De facto independence that is unstable and exploitable by outside power., really must be replaced by a formal one.
Rubbish. US subsidises PKK. In Turkey, in
Syria and in Iraq. Barzani has goodvrelationship with Turkey, and had no isdues with Turkey bombing accross the border PKK units. The bottom line is – US propped up Iraqi PKK, against Perhmerga and Barzani. Reason? Barzani did not accept US/Israeli control. For one, worked with Turkey against PKK, and worked with Baghdad to negotiate energy deals, and transit fees to Turkey. US funded PKK jn Iraq for explicit reason to have an opposition to Barzani and Peshmerga. The conflict broke in the open ehen US entered Iraq to liberate poor Yazidi from ISIS. Target was a strategic little place called Sinjar. The operation was joint Kurdish-US operation, and US funded and armed all Kurds. After successfully liberating Sinjar, US ordered Peshmerga to stay back, while PKK was sent to enter snd occupy the town. It is still ovcupied by Iraqi PKK, and Turkey objected to US propping up PKK. Following that episode, the message was loud and clear — US was no longer supporting Peshmerga, and indeed, ISIS was endsngering Kurds — who had to fend for themselves. The idea was — Barzani is weak, he will never get you independence, time for new leadership. It was then that Barzani announced that a referendum was going to be held. With this mive, he secured his lesderdhip, and marginalized PKK. Even after the announcement, Erdigan and Barzani met several times, and Turkish base is still in Iraq, preventing spread of PKK. Barzani was clear that this is only ghe beginning of process, no boundaries will be determined before negotiations, and no status predefined. The rejection of referendum by Baghdad, Ankara, Syria or Russia is merely politically correct. Already, Iraqi Ambassador to Russia announced that Baghdad will negotiate with Kurds. Given good relationship with Ankara, Baghdad s d Damascus, Barzani may work to develop a model of relationship between a real ((not informal) autonomy for Kurdistan. A midel that could be applied regionally. The issue cannot be left out there for other powers to exploit, and perenially cause crisis in the area. This development is not welcome by US or Israel. There are attempts to portray it as Israel influenced. But it is definitely not the case. Now that Barzani has secured power, US is stopping finanancing — a convenient excuse.
It will be interesting to see how will the process affect Turkey and Syria.
This is good news for Kurdistan. This will make them stronger. There is no such thing as an independent quisling.