Peshmerga’s Units 70, 80 dismantled, says Kurdish military envoy

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The previously party-affiliated Units 70 and 80 of the Kurdistan Region’s Peshmerga forces have been completely dismantled as part of the region’s military reform program

The remarks by Abdul Khaliq Tal’at, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) representative at the Iraqi Joint Operations Command, came as the Ministry of Peshmerga Affairs in early April announced the formation of two major divisions to encompass the major forces in the region.

“Units of 70 and 80 have been completely dismantled, and all forces under the units’ command are now part of the newly launched divisions, consisting of 1,200 members. Tal’at stated to Kurdistan 24.

The ministry is entirely in charge of commanding these forces, the official added.

“The political affiliations have been completely removed,” he continued. 

The two forces used to be affiliated with the two major political parties: Unit 70 is affiliated with the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) while its counterpart, Unit 80, was under the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) command.

Unifying and modernizing Peshmerga forces are at the “core” of the reform program of the ninth cabinet, the government’s officials have said on many occasions.

The program is supported by the US-led coalition members, particularly the US, the UK, Germany, and the Netherlands that similarly assist and enable the forces to fight the ISIS remnants.

More than a thousand Kurdish troops were killed in the fight against the terror group during the three-year war, beginning in the summer of 2014.