US envoy, Congressman hail KRG, Peshmerga

WASHINGTON DC (Kurdistan 24) - Testifying before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday, Amb. James Jeffrey, Special Representative for Syria Engagement and Special Envoy for the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS, praised the people and government of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.

“We have the utmost respect for them,” Jeffrey affirmed. “First of all, they’re at peace” and “their economy is in pretty good shape.”

“They took in hundreds and hundreds of thousands of refugees from ISIS,” he continued, “and they treated them well.”

Jeffrey was speaking at a hearing on US policy in northeast Syria, specifically focused on President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw US forces. The hearing was entitled, “The Betrayal of our Syrian Kurdish Partners,” and the congressmen were generally quite critical of Trump’s move.

However, one congressman, Rep. Steve Watkins (R, Kansas), began his questioning by explaining that he had been “embedded with the Peshmerga in Iraq for many years” and has “so much respect for the challenges they face.”

Asked to respond, Jeffrey replied, “I’ve also worked with their political leadership since the late 1990s, very extensively, including three years in Iraq”—when Jeffrey held senior posts at the US embassy, including that of ambassador.

Jeffrey concluded his warm remarks about the Kurdistan Region, describing it “as a good news story, in part, because they were able to defend themselves.”

He also praised the peaceful ties that the Kurdistan Region maintains with its neighbors. “They have a good relationship with Turkey,” Jeffrey said, and “they are a constituent part of the Iraqi body politic.”