British Prime Minister quizzed about arming the Kurds

LONDON—Questions about limited British military support to the Kurdistan Regional Government have been raised directly with the British Prime Minister by a senior Conservative MP and Chairman of the foreign affairs committee, which recently produced a major report on UK relations with the Kurdistan Region. The questions came at a regular public meeting in parliament between powerful select committee chairs and the Prime Minister.

The foreign affairs Chairman, Sir Richard Ottaway, asked Prime Minister David Cameron if Britain could be doing anything more to help the Kurds. He said that 'we have supplied 40 heavy machine guns and people to train them how to use those, but all the help we give them has to go through a rather tortuous route from Baghdad and then up to Irbil' and directly asked the PM if he had looked at providing any extra equipment. 

The KRG for its part has made it very plain that it is seeking heavy weapons to help defend itself against Daish, which is very well-equipped with heavy weapons captured from the Iraqi Army last year.

The Prime Minister replied that 'We are happy to respond to requests—that is what we have done so far' and told the MPs that British support so far consists of 40 heavy machine guns, 500,000 pounds of ammunition, 50 tonnes of non-lethal support, 1,000 surplus Vallon metal detectors previously used in Afghanistan, and 30 experts who are training the Peshmerga fighters in counter-IED work. Cameron also promised to provide a 'full list of all the things being done because it is an enormous coalition effort involving all these different countries.' Cameron emphasised that the UK seeks to focus its contribution on where it can 'give the greatest effect.'

Sir Richard Ottaway also asked, given that the Kurds 'are our most reliable partners out there and a lot of them have died in action,' why they weren’t invited to the recent anti-ISIL coalition conference, although the German Government invited the KRG to the recent Munich security conference. Cameron promised to check why the KRG was not invited but said he suspected that this was because it was difficult to include a region in a conference of sovereign states, including Iraq.

Ottaway's questions at this high-profile question and answer session can be seen as another sign of growing awareness that the Kurds are a vital ally in the alliance against Daish but are under-equipped.