PM Barzani reiterates importance of maintaining duties of Coalition forces in Iraq
The officials also discussed the support for the Peshmerga reform program as well as speeding up the unification process of the Kurdish forces.
ERBIL (Kurdistan24) – Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani on Tuesday stressed the importance of maintaining the duties of the US-led Coalition against ISIS to assist the Iraqi army and the Peshmerga forces in combatting terrorism and safeguarding security and stability.
Barzani’s remarks came during a meeting he held in Erbil with the commander of the Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve, Major General Joel B. Vowell, and his accompanying delegation, according to a statement from the premier’s office.
Discussing the stability and security of Iraq and the Kurdistan Region, Barzani stressed the importance of maintaining the duties of the Coalition against ISIS for the sake of assisting the Iraqi army and the Region’s Peshmerga in the fight against terrorism and safeguarding stability, per the statement.
The officials also discussed the support for the Peshmerga reform program as well as speeding up the unification process of the Kurdish forces, according to the statement.
US Consul General Erbil Mark Stroh also attended the meeting, in which the latest political developments in the Kurdistan Region, Syria, and Iraq were discussed.
Since 2021, the 86-member coalition has been operating in an advisory role to the Kurdish and Iraqi forces that fight the remnants of the Islamic State, whose self-acclaimed caliphate was toppled in 2017.
The presence of the Coalition forces in the country has been at the invitation of the Iraqi government, the security consortium regularly says, adding the protection of the forces is the responsibility of the country as the host state.
The Iraqi militias have recently increased drone attacks on the Coalition bases in Anbar and Erbil, where they are often shot down by the forces’ air defense system.
