Masrour Barzani meets US Deputy National Security Advisor

This marked Barzani’s first visit to Washington since the April 8 appointment of John Bolton as National Security Council Advisor.

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Chancellor Masrour Barzani, head of the Kurdistan Region Security Council (KRSC), met with US Deputy National Security Advisor Mira Ricardel at the White House on Thursday.

They discussed a series of issues “concerning Kurdistan, Iraq, and the wider region,” while reiterating their shared “commitment to the complete defeat” of the Islamic State (IS) and to “the partnership between Kurdish security forces and the US-led coalition,” a KRSC summary explained.

This marked Barzani’s first visit to Washington since the April 8 appointment of John Bolton as National Security Council Advisor. Subsequently, Bolton chose Ricardel as his deputy.

As a private citizen, before becoming a senior figure in the Trump administration, Bolton’s expressed view of the Kurds was extremely friendly. Last September, just before the independence referendum, Bolton told Kurdistan 24 that he believed that the US should respect its results, whatever they were.

In October, when Iraq attacked Kirkuk, already the next day, when US officials were still in a state of denial about Iran’s role, Bolton denounced US inaction, characterizing the assault as “the Iran-dominated government in Baghdad, along with their regular forces and Shia militias, attacking our allies, the Kurds.”

Not only is the new US National Security Advisor particularly friendly to the Kurds, Washington has reason to mend fences with them.

IS is coming back in areas like Kirkuk, now under the control of the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF), who are proving significantly less capable of maintaining security there than the Peshmerga. IS is also returning in the “seams” between the territory controlled by the ISF and that controlled by Kurdish forces.

The US-led coalition, formally known as Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTF-OIR), has come to recognize that it needs the Peshmerga to prevent IS’ resurgence.

On June 30, CJTF-OIR forces and Peshmerga conducted their first joint operation since last September, and a military operation against IS, also including the Iraqi Federal Police, followed two weeks later.

Finally, Iraq’s May 12 elections demonstrated the importance and strength of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP.) Not only did the election results establish the KDP as the dominant party within the Kurdistan Region, they also established the KDP as a major force in Iraqi politics.

When Iraqi politicians look at Massoud Barzani now, “they see a guy who truly does have at least 26 seats” and “full control” over those seats, “a strong leader, who has the loyalty of his base,” Michael Knights, a Senior Fellow at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, told a Washington audience on Wednesday.

Knights’ view was endorsed by Dr. Nussaibah Younis of London’s Chatham House. “Mike is absolutely right,” she said.

“You have to look at who is really able to control their seats and maintain them—which means that Barzani is very powerful. It means [Iraq Prime Minister Haider] al-Abadi is really not very powerful,” she explained.

Chancellor Barzani and the US Deputy National Security Advisor “discussed the process of government formation in Iraq,” the KRSC summary stated, which seems particularly appropriate in light of such comments.

The Kurdistan Region, as Barzani explained to US officials, seeks “to be part of a coalition government, based on consensus, balance, and partnership.”

That includes an Iraqi government “responsive to the needs and rights of the people of Kurdistan and others,” consistent with the 2005 constitution.

The two officials also discussed “Kurdistan’s support for the displaced Christians, Yezidis, and others” who have “fled to Kurdistan for safety.”

Despite what is largely the defeat of IS as an entity controlling territory, over 2 million Iraqis remain internally displaced, and slightly over half are now sheltered in the Kurdistan Region.

Editing by Laurie Mylroie