ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad and Special Presidential Envoy Brett McGurk separately expressed their condolences to KRG Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani over the loss of his twin brother Dilovan Barzani.
Khalilzad was former US President George W. Bush's ambassador to Iraq from 2005-2007 before being appointed to the same post at the United Nations.
Khalilzad was the highest-ranking Muslim in Bush's cabinet. He oversaw the drafting of Afghanistan's constitution.
"In addition to expressing his condolences to Nechirvan Barzani and his family, Mr. Brett McGurk wished that will be the last sad news for the Barzani family and Mr. Nechirvan Barzani," read a KRG statement released on Friday that summarized the message.
McGurk, the SPE to the anti-ISIS coalition who has worked in Iraq through three presidential administrations, also "sent prayers for strength through these difficult times."
Khalilzad, a former US diplomat also contacted the Kurdish premier after the loss of his brother.
"He shared in his sorrows with Mr. Nechirvan Barzani and his family, and also wished it was the last loss for the family, wishing for him to rest in peace," read the KRG statement.
Khalilzad was former US President George W. Bush's ambassador to Iraq from 2005-2007 before being appointed to the same post at the United Nations.
Khalilzad was the highest-ranking Muslim in Bush's cabinet. He oversaw the drafting of Afghanistan's constitution.
He also had a substantial role in bringing together Iraq's many components that led to its new constitution in 2005, working closely with Dilovan Barzani’s uncle, Masoud Barzani and the late Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani.
McGurk was an outspoken critic of the Kurdistan Region's independence referendum in 2017, calling it "ill-timed" and claiming it would distract from the defeat of ISIS.
Dilovan Idris Barzani, 51, died on Monday of a heart attack. He and Nechirvan Barzani are twins. They were born on September 21, 1966, in Barzan, the ancestral home of the Barzani tribe, where Dilovan was laid to rest on Monday.
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