Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman, who heads the KRG’s office in Washington, said she understands the US wants to pull out from the likes of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria, but the facts on the ground require their active involvement going forward.
"I do believe the United States has a critical role to play in this," she said during a panel discussion at the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) in Washington on Tuesday. The discussion was part of USIP’s conference titled ‘Iraq and Syria: Views from the US Administration, Military Leaders and the Region.’
"I know many Americans are sick and tired of the whole story of Iraq and Afghanistan, and soon they will be tired of Syria. And I understand that. But we need you. We need you to stay the course in Iraq and to help our society to recover from the most recent trauma that we faced," she said.
The rise of ISIS in Iraq in 2014 brought pre-existing "fault lines" to the surface, Rahman said, and those same problems remain in place even after the defeat of the extremist group.
Iraq will hold parliamentary elections on May 12, the first public vote since the defeat of ISIS and the Baghdad-opposed Kurdistan vote for independence held last fall.
"I truly believe that these elections are the opportunity for a new chapter," Rahman said.
"We hope that after the elections, we [Kurdish parties] will be able to be part of the discussion forming a new government. And we believe any new government in Iraq should include the Kurds, Sunnis, and Shiites.”
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and Vice President Nouri al-Maliki, both from the ruling Dawa Party but are running separate election campaigns, are each pushing for a majority government – a radical departure from the power-sharing mechanism that was the foundation of each government since the US-led invasion of 2003.
The current mechanism distributes senior positions of the Iraqi government among all components, especially Shiite and Sunni Arabs and the Kurds.
"It rings alarm bells for many of us in Iraq when we hear some parties, some political leaders talk about that it is time for majoritarian rule. It is time for whoever wins the majority to rule Iraq," Rahman said in a warning message describing the move as "backward."
With regards to the relationship between Erbil and Baghdad post-referendum, Rahman said that it is time to see a stronger implementation of the Iraqi constitution, for revenues to be shared, and for the two sides to work jointly in the disputed areas.
"We need to have, for example, in the disputed territories, a Joined Security Mechanism which worked previously, worked very successfully. And I believe there are steps towards that,” Rahman explained.
Kurdish officials have stated this week that the US-led anti-ISIS Coalition have requested the Peshmerga to redeploy to the disputed areas based on a joint mechanism that was in place before the rise of ISIS.
Jabar Yawar, the secretary-general of the Peshmerga ministry, told reporters on Tuesday that the request was made by the US and the United Kingdom due to an increase in ISIS activities in the disputed areas such as oil-rich Kirkuk.
Baghdad is yet to agree to the Coalition-proposed plan.
Iraqi security forces, supported by Iran-backed Hashd al-Shaabi, took control of the majority of the disputed areas last October, a following deadly military confrontation.
