It Was a ‘Mistake’ Not to Take the Fight to ISIS Says Ex- Kurdistan PM

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Kurdistan was late in taking the fight to the Islamic State (ISIS) because of a flawed decision not to intervene when the jihadists surged into northwestern Iraq in June, former Kurdish prime minister Barham Salih said in an interview with Rudaw TV.

“The policy of indifference with regard to the ISIS attack on Iraq was a mistake,” said Salih, a veteran politician who has served both as prime minister and deputy prime minister in the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).

Salih said that those who had not viewed ISIS as a Kurdish issue early on “did not fully understand the regional political equation and were blinded by complacency.”

He added: “ISIS was expected to attack the Kurdistan Region sooner or later, and indeed they did attack, because ISIS is a problem confronting Kurdistan and the Sunnis and the Shiites and regional states – and Kurdistan is part of this region.”

When the militants first advanced inside Iraq they refrained from attacking the Kurdish Peshmerga forces. For weeks, a tense stand-off ensued between the two sides, along their newly-created 1,050 kilometer frontier.

But in early August the jihadists turned their guns on the Kurds, seizing Shingal in the west and villages near the Kurdish capital, Erbil.

That forced the Kurds to go on the offensive, backed since August by US-led airstrikes that now include other partners in a 50-nation coalition.  Under allied air cover, the Kurds have been  pushing back ISIS on a number of fronts, this week recapturing Rabia, a strategic town and border post with Syria.

Salih said it was also a mistake to think that -– in the shared fight against ISIS -- a militarily weak Iraq would benefit the Kurds.

“Whether as part of Iraq or as an independent state, Kurds still are in need of a friendly and stable Iraq,” Salih said.  “Those who think a weaker Iraqi army and a weaker Baghdad will be in the interests of the Kurdistan Region are mistaken.”

Salih, whose Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) party is pro-Iranian, also criticized Kurdistan’s policy of exclusive reliance on Turkey for support in the fight against ISIS.

“It was wrong to have advocated that exclusive reliance on the Turks, and it is equally wrong now for us to dismiss Turkey as disloyal and unimportant.” Salih said.

Before the ISIS stormed into Mosul in northwestern Iraq in June, and within weeks captured about a third of the country, Erbil and Ankara enjoyed cozy ties: Turkey is landlocked Kurdistan’s largest trade partner and the sole outlet for large oil and gas, through a pipeline to Ceyhan.

Turkey publicly promised it would do all it could to defend Kurdistan against the ISIS. But when the militants turned their guns on the Kurds, Turkey took no action, citing 49 hostages in ISIS hands as the reason.

“If the Kurds seek independence, then an alliance with only Turkey is not enough. This will be trading one dependence with another,” Salih said.

He added that the KRG must handle its international relations wisely, stressing the need for good "balanced" ties with neighbors, including Iran.