KRG hails support for Peshmerga in US defense budget

WASHINGTON DC, United States (Kurdistan 24) – The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) hailed the support for Kurdistan that is included in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA.)

The annual legislation establishing the Defense Department budget provides funds for continued US backing of the Peshmerga.

As the KRG statement, issued on Wednesday, explained, “The NDAA authorizes $1.3 billion for the Counter-ISIS Train and Equip Fund” and includes “$365 million that the Department of Defense requested for support for the Peshmerga in Fiscal Year 2018.”

“The NDAA is expected to be passed by the House and Senate, and signed into law by the President, in the coming weeks,” the KRG statement continued.

The statement noted that the language of the report accompanying the bill describes the thinking of the Members of Congress who drafted it and “indicates that Congress is well-informed on Iraqi and Kurdistani issues.”

The KRG statement highlights the following language from the defense appropriation bill:

* The Congressional drafters of the NDAA “emphasize the significant contributions Kurdish security forces have made to countering [the Islamic State (IS)].”

* They “urge all parties to defuse tensions, refrain from further violence, and work peaceably to establish an equitable dispute resolution process that contributes to regional stability and the defeat of [IS].”

* They “urge the United States, in coordination with coalition partners, to continue necessary support to the security forces that have a national security mission in their fight against [IS].”

* They “remind the [US] Secretaries that local security forces with a national security mission may include in addition to Kurdish, Shia, and Sunni tribal elements, local security forces that are committed to protecting highly vulnerable ethnic and religious communities, such as Yazidi, Christian, Assyrian, and Turkoman communities, against the [IS] threat.”

Congressional opposition to administration policy on Iraq has grown significantly since the Oct. 16 assault on Kirkuk and other disputed areas, carried out by the Iraqi army and Iranian-backed Shia militias, and directed by Qassim Soleimani, head of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ al Quds Force.

There is “growing concern in Congress that Iranian-backed militias fighting for the Iraqi government are illegally benefiting from U.S. training and arms equipment programs,”  The Washington Free Beacon recently reported.

Editing by Nadia Riva