PM Barzani meets US Secretaries of State, Energy in Munich

WASHINGTON DC (Kurdistan 24) – Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani met on Friday with the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at the Munich Security Conference, as well as with the Secretary of Energy, Dan Brouillette.

The fight against the so-called Islamic State featured prominently in Barzani’s discussion with Pompeo. The two leaders “agreed that US forces should remain in the region,” Barzani tweeted after their meeting, adding “Our American allies are a vital part of the Global Coalition in the fight to defeat ISIS once and for all.”

In interviews with major western media prior to the Munich conference, Barzani affirmed that the terrorist organization had not yet been defeated and that it was imperative to continue the military campaign against it.

“ISIS is very much alive,” Barzani told The Atlantic, in an interview published on Friday. “Yes, they have lost much of their leadership. They have lost many of their capable men. But they’ve also managed to gain more experience and to recruit more people around them,” he said.

That was also his message earlier this month in a discussion with France 24. “ISIS is a major threat,” Barzani told the French broadcaster. “It is not eradicated, and it can regroup and attack, as they have in many different places.”

READ MORE: Kurdistan Region PM warns about ‘great possibility’ of ISIS return

Indeed, that is also the view presented in the most recent Pentagon-led Inspector Generals’ report—a congressionally mandated study, issued quarterly, that combines the views of the Defense and State Departments, as well as USAID.

Even the US assassination of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the head of the Islamic State, in October, had minimal impact on the terrorist group. His death had “not resulted in any immediate degradation to ISIS’ capabilities,” the latest report stated.

Barzani stressed the need to address the “root causes” of the Islamic State’s persistence, which The Atlantic summarized as “corruption, poor governance, sectarianism, and economic malaise”—in short, the failure of the Baghdad government to address the concerns and interests of Iraq’s Sunni Arabs.

Pompeo and Barzani

The personal relationship between Pompeo and Barzani began in the early days of the Trump administration, when Pompeo headed the CIA and Barzani headed the KRG equivalent, the Kurdistan Region Security Council (KRSC.)

As State Department Spokesperson Morgan Ortagus told Kurdistan 24 last month, the two men have “an incredibly close relationship” that goes back to that time.

READ MORE: ‘We work incredibly closely with the KRG;’ US State Department

Pompeo visited Erbil in January 2019 and met with the senior Kurdish leadership, including Barzani, who then headed the KRSC. This is the first time the two men have met in person since then, although they have spoken over the telephone several times over the past year.

Brouilette and Barzani

Barzani’s first meeting at Munich was with the US Secretary of Energy. Brouilette, who had previously been Deputy Secretary of Energy, replaced Rick Perry in the top position in December.

In December 2018, Perry visited Erbil to promote economic ties between the US and the Kurdistan Region, particularly in the energy sector.

READ MORE: US Secretary of Energy meets senior Kurdish leaders in Erbil after leaving Baghdad

Brouilette and Barzani continued that discussion in Munich. Their conversation focused on the further development of economic relations, especially as regards energy, according to a read-out from Barzani’s office.

As Brouilette tweeted after their meeting, “The US and KRG have ample opportunities to increase energy security in the region and have major US investment in the Kurdistan energy sector,” before adding, “Prime Minister @masrour_barzani shares our optimism for US-KRG energy opportunities.”

Additional reporting by Kosar Nawzad