US efforts at helping Iraq’s Kurds win the war against the Islamic State (ISIS) have been half-hearted at best, undermining Washington’s own strategy to defeat the group.
The head of the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) Security Council, Masrour Barzani, told the BBC earlier this month that the Kurdish Peshmerga forces have received no new weapons for several months.
“We don’t have the kind of equipment that we wish to have, especially when it comes to heavy weapons,” he said. “The last shipment we had was in May this year.”
The KRG’s ability to independently acquire weapons is denied because Kurdistan is not a sovereign state. Every bullet going to the KRG needs to be sanctioned by the Iraqi central government. The tensions over the budget and oil that have persisted between the KRG and Baghdad have also affected the manner in which the central government controls the flow of arms to Erbil.
When the Kurds have been locked in battle with the most brutal enemy seen in modern history for more than a year – losing over 1,000 men on the frontlines and struggling with nearly two million refugees and internally displaced -- Baghdad has seen fit to continue withholding the KRG’s share of the national budget.
Baghdad’s only likely intention is to weaken the Kurdistan Region by inciting internal instability via public protests. Otherwise, if officials in Baghdad view Kurdistan as a part of Iraq and have an interest in a stable region, the easiest thing to do is to help the KRG meet its financial obligations.
Baghdad's employment of the budget as a political tool against the Kurds, the unending war with ISIS, the social and economic costs of dealing with the refugees, lack of good governance and the rule of law are taking their toll on Iraq’s Kurds.
And as partisan interests continue to trump public interests in Kurdistan, Kurds are growing increasingly weary, as seen by the mass departure of young Kurds -- including some Peshmerga who desert frontlines – for Europe, where they seek a better life.
As Washington continues to insist on its unworkable policy of doing everything through Baghdad the Peshmerga forces cannot sustain this fight forever with so little international assistance.
If President Barack Obama’s administration wants to continue to cite the Kurds as a shining example of the success of its anti-ISIS strategy, Washington has to take several serious steps soon to address the KRG’s financial woes, helping keep the Peshmerga on the frontlines and dissuade young Kurds from leaving Kurdistan.
First, Washington must provide the adequate and necessary weapons needed to win the war against ISIS; second, it should assist the KRG financially to meet local obligations, especially towards civil servants who have not received salaries for over three months; third, the US and Western countries must help the KRG sell its oil independently and openly, and protect its funds against any potential lawsuit by Iraq; lastly, coalition countries should give a greater helping hand to the KRG to deal with refugees and the internally displaced.
Failure to take these steps will degrade the young population of Kurdistan, which includes Peshmerga soldiers who have gone unpaid for several months. Failure to take these measures will mean that everyone will be a loser, except ISIS.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rudaw.
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