An American report indicates attempts to curtail the Kurdish role and identifies enormous challenges

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[size=52]An American report indicates attempts to curtail the Kurdish role and identifies enormous challenges in Iraq[/size]

[size=45]The American “Soufan” Center warned that Iraq is still exposed to various challenges, including internal divisions within and between its main components, which are exacerbating, in addition to the pressures exerted by the “strong neighbor” Iran, while Tehran’s allies in Iraq are trying to limit governance. Kurdish self in the north of the country.[/size]
[size=45]In the report, which came under the title “Iraq faces countless external and internal pressures,” the center considered that the divisions within the Kurdish community had widened, which complicated the Kurds’ partnership with the United States against ISIS.[/size]
[size=45]He pointed out that the provincial council elections scheduled for next December will lead to an increase in tensions between the main parties and factions, and are unlikely to lead to a settlement of the many political challenges facing the country.[/size]
[size=45]political stability[/size]
[size=45]The American report saw that Iraq has made great progress since the invasion in 2003, when a degree of political stability was achieved, the oil export sector in Iraq became vibrant, and Baghdad returned to integration into the Arab world, but the underlying divisions and tensions between the main sects and ethnic components still exist and have worsened. Because of people's calls for more government accountability and transparency.[/size]
[size=45]In addition, the report said that Iraq's leaders are still having difficulty balancing their relations with the two partners who are considered historical opponents to each other, that is, the United States and Iran, as Tehran in particular has many tools through which it can influence Iraqi politicians, including the Quds Force of the Revolutionary Guard. The Iranian trains and arms factions, including Kataib Hezbollah, Asaib Ahl al-Haq, Harakat al-Nujaba, and the Badr Organization.[/size]
[size=45]And after the report indicated that Prime Minister Muhammad Shia’ al-Sudani distanced himself from the Maliki coalition that is strongly linked to Iran, he said that al-Sudani bypassed the calls of some factions of the coordination framework to expel the American forces from Iraq, as he expressed his support for the ongoing American mission to train and advise the Iraqi forces that are fighting. ISIS remnants.[/size]
[size=45]Iranian pressures[/size]
[size=45]However, the report indicated that in light of the increasing pressures from Tehran, Nuri al-Maliki and the leaders of the pro-Iranian militias, al-Sudani said during a meeting on August 15 with Iraqi army commanders that Iraq “no longer needs the presence of foreign combat forces on its soil, and that we are conducting dialogues.” advanced to determine the form of future relationship and cooperation with the international coalition” led by the United States.[/size]
[size=45]The report added that Al-Maliki, reflecting Tehran's escalating incitement against US influence in Iraq, accused, on August 30, US forces in Iraq of having plans to close the borders between Iraq and Syria in order to work to overthrow the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Iran's main ally.[/size]
[size=45]According to the report, Al-Sudani's words that there is no need for the presence of US forces for a long time, undoubtedly raised concern among US officials, because these statements came only one week after US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin received Iraqi Defense Minister Thabet Muhammad Al-Abbasi to open the joint security cooperation dialogue between the two countries. The United States and Iraq, where US officials said the cooperation agreement establishes long-term security cooperation between Washington and Baghdad, far beyond the joint effort to defeat ISIS.[/size]
[size=45]In another context, the report said that the Iranian influence that dominates Iraq's affairs has exacerbated divisions between the Arab majority and the Kurdish minority, which controls three northern governorates administered by the Kurdistan Regional Government.[/size]
[size=45]He recalled Tehran's increasing focus on the Iranian Kurdish opposition groups that are present in the territories controlled by the Kurdistan Regional Government, where the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman said on August 28 that Baghdad had agreed to its demand to disarm and transfer these factions by September 19.[/size]
[size=45]The report indicated that the Kurdish leaders considered this deal an attempt by Iran and its allies in Baghdad to undermine Kurdish autonomy by creating an excuse for Baghdad to send additional government forces and Shiite militias to the Kurdistan Region.[/size]
[size=45]According to the report, this Iraqi-Iranian agreement is in addition to other steps taken by Baghdad to limit the autonomy of the Kurdistan Region by restricting its funding sources.[/size]
[size=45]Kurdish oil[/size]
[size=45]In this context, he indicated that the federal government won, in March 2023, an arbitration ruling in a case filed nine years ago to prevent Turkey from assisting the regional government in exporting oil from the north, as Baghdad considers the state company “SOMO” to be the only party that has the authority to Conclusion of oil export agreements with external parties.[/size]
[size=45]He added that after the decision to stop pumping Kurdish oil, amounting to 370,000 barrels per day, in addition to the 75,000 barrels per day of oil controlled by Baghdad, the regional government has inflicted heavy losses on the Iraqi state, estimated at about $4 billion so far.[/size]
[size=45]The report indicated that the loss of these revenues, along with Baghdad's reductions in revenue-sharing payments to the regional government, had caused financial distress in Erbil, in addition to exacerbating tensions between the two main parties, the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, which limited the cooperation of its security forces with the Peshmerga. Affiliated to the Kurdistan Democratic Party and with the Ministry of Peshmerga Affairs.[/size]
[size=45]The report recalled the warning of the former commander of Operation Inherent Resolve, General Matthew MacFarlane, on August 20, that the effects of the Kurdish-Kurdish tension on the future of US military cooperation with the Kurds unless they reconcile, considering that “the inability of the regional government to achieve goals or results Major or milestones identified in the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU with the United States) could negatively affect the ability of the US Department of Defense to continue to provide security assistance to the Ministry of Peshmerga Affairs.”[/size]
[size=45]Provincial council elections[/size]
[size=45]The report concluded by saying that all the intersecting currents in Iraqi politics and society, including in the Kurdistan Region, will play their role in the upcoming provincial elections, noting that these elections will take place in Kirkuk, which has a Kurdish majority, but the Kurds lost political power there in 2017 after The independence referendum, which sparked a violent reaction from the Baghdad government towards the KRG.[/size]
[size=45]He pointed out that the Kurds will try to return to power in this province, but as it reflects the tensions between them, the calls to form a joint coalition between the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan to run for the Kirkuk Provincial Council did not succeed, while tensions escalated on September 2, turning into Huge protests by the Kurdish population of Kirkuk against the central government forces deployed in the province.[/size]
[size=45]The report concludes that it is unlikely that the provincial elections, or any single government policy or initiative, will succeed in addressing the main tensions that dominate politics, governance and society in Iraq.[/size]
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