A security co-operation agreement between the US and Iraq’s Kurdistan Region is due to expire at the end of September, but it will not end ties between Erbil and Washington, Kurdish officials told The National, after reports US assistance to the region had been suspended.
The US and the Kurdistan Regional Government signed an agreement in 2016 to support the reform and unification of the Peshmerga forces. The agreement is set to expire on September 30, coinciding with the withdrawal of troops from Iraq by the US and other members of the anti-ISIS coalition.
“The expiration of the current agreement should not be interpreted as an end to the strategic partnership or co-operation between the US and the Kurdistan Region,” Noreldin Waisy, spokesman for KRG Prime Minister Masrour Barzani, told The National.
“The Peshmerga have been a key and trusted partner in the fight against terrorism, and there remains a strong basis for continued security co-operation.”
The agreement between the US and the KRG established a framework for US support to the Peshmerga during the campaign against ISIS. An updated agreement signed in September 2022 set out the terms of US support for a further four years, including assistance in counter-ISIS operations and efforts to professionalise and unify Kurdish forces.
Mr Waisy said discussions could take place in the future on a new framework governing continued US support and co-operation with the force, and that the KRG remained committed to strengthening ties with Washington in support of regional security, stability and the fight against terrorism.
Another Kurdish official told The National that the end of US funding should not be interpreted as a suspension of military assistance. Co-operation is expected to continue through training, military advice, logistics, institutional reform, capacity-building and efforts to unify Peshmerga forces.
The Peshmerga, the armed forces of the Kurdistan Region, are divided between units loyal to the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, despite years of efforts to take them under a unified command.
“The phasing out of this funding has been under discussion for some time and is linked to the wider transition of the US-led coalition mission in Iraq,” the official said, adding that Kurdish representatives had participated in discussions on the future US-Iraqi security relationship.
The official said the move is seen as “the planned conclusion of a specific funding mechanism rather than a suspension of American military assistance to the Kurdistan Region”.
Iraqi Prime Minister Ali Al Zaidi confirmed this month that the US-led military coalition is preparing to withdraw its troops from the Kurdistan Region and transfer bases to Iraqi forces before September 30.
The deadline was agreed to by Baghdad and Washington in 2024 as part of a broader agreement to transform the mission of the US-led coalition in Iraq from combat and advisory roles to bilateral security co-operation.
It will formally end an international coalition that was set up in 2014 to defeat ISIS, in which the Peshmerga forces fought alongside coalition troops to end the terrorist group's control of parts of Iraq and Syria.
Since the defeat of ISIS in 2017, Iraq has been pushing for a shift to advisory and intelligence-sharing roles conducted through bilateral agreements rather than a coalition framework.
Iraq’s Kurdistan Region hosts several key coalition sites that have been used for training, logistics and air operations against ISIS remnants.
Germany's military mission to Iraq formally ended last week, departing from the Kurdistan Region as part of the coalition’s broader withdrawal from the country.
