Pentagon Spox: U.S. has ‘Long-standing Strategic Relationship’ with the KRG

WASHINGTON DC, United States (Kurdistan 24) – “I can’t emphasize enough how much we value the relationship that we have with the Peshmerga and with the Kurdistan Regional Government.” 

So Pentagon Press Secretary Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder (U.S. Air Force) told Kurdistan 24, when we spoke with him on Friday.

VIDEO: Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder speaks to Kurdistan24

And to emphasize that point, Ryder concluded the interview, “I just want to emphasize how much we appreciate the support of the Peshmerga forces and the long-standing strategic relationship that we have with the Kurdistan Regional Government.”

Acting Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Meets with KRG Prime Minister

On Thursday, Sasha Baker, Acting Undersecretary of Defense for Policy, the number three post at the Pentagon, met with the Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), Masrour Barzani.

“It really was an opportunity to underscore the long-standing strategic relationship between the United States and the Kurdistan Regional Government,” Ryder told Kurdistan 24, when asked about that meeting. 

“One of the main things” they discussed in the meeting “was some of the threats that are present in the region from Iranian-backed proxy groups and ISIS,” Ryder said, as he noted that the Prime Minister had “highlighted that there’s been over 130 attacks in the region.”

But, as Ryder continued, “the Under Secretary was able to assure the Prime Minister that the United States remains committed to the enduring defeat of ISIS.”

“They also talked a bit about the fact that the Office of Security Cooperation-Iraq is working very closely to support our partners in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region, as well as the greater federal Iraqi government to address those threats,” he continued.

Security Cooperation between the U.S. and KRG

The U.S.-Iraq Higher Military Commission is also meeting to discuss “the transition of the U.S. military operations and long term security cooperation and support between the United States and Iraq,” Ryder said, affirming, “The Peshmerga are integral partners when it comes to security in the region, stability in the region and, importantly, as part of the enduring defeat of ISIS.” 

“The United States has worked very closely with Iraqi Security Forces, to include the Peshmerga,” Ryder continued, “through things like CJTF-OIR [Combined Joint Task Force—Operation Inherent Resolve, the anti-ISIS Coalition), as well as “the logistical support that the Peshmerga provide for things like the repatriation of ISIS fighters back to their home countries.”

Other aspects of defense cooperation between the U.S. and the KRG which Ryder highlighted include the Joint Security Dialogue that the U.S. and Iraq hosted last summer, “which, of course, included representation from Peshmerga forces.” 

As Ryder stressed, “We all have a shared commitment to seeing the enduring defeat of ISIS, and we’ll continue to work closely with our Iraqi partners, to include the Peshmerga and the Iraqi Security Forces, to ensure that ISIS can’t come back.”

Then came Ryder’s conclusion, “Again, I just want to emphasize how much we appreciate the support of the Peshmerga forces and the long-standing strategic relationship that we have with the Kurdistan Regional  Government.”

Ryder’s Long Experience with Iraq

Ryder’s first deployment to Iraq was to Erbil–in 1995, shortly after he had been commissioned as a young Air Force officer, to escort a convoy, as he told Kurdistan 24. 

Eight years later, the U.S. ousted Saddam Hussein and his regime in Operation Iraqi Freedom. From March to July 2004, Ryder served as a strategic communications planner for the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) in Baghdad, under Amb. Paul Bremer. The CPA lasted little more than a year, ending in July 2004, when authority was passed to an interim Iraqi government.

Ten years after that, from 2014 to 2016, Ryder “oversaw the [CENTCOM} command-wide public affairs operations in support of the counter-ISIS campaign, Operation Inherent Resolve,” as his official biography explains.