Washington Kurdish Institute
May 4, 2020
In response to the autonomous Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) holding a non-binding independence referendum in October 2017, the Iraqi Government, with the support of Iran and its Iraqi proxies, attacked Kurdish forces in the “disputed territories” between the KRI and the rest of Iraq. These were the same Kurdish forces, the Peshmerga, who had just fought and defeated ISIS throughout this territory. And all throughout this attack against Kurdish forces, the Trump administration remained silent. This attack was also the first time the Iraqi central government had used military force against the Kurdistan region since the era of the Saddam Hussein Baathist regime, which was overthrown in 2003.
Unlike the Peshmerga forces before them, the Iraqi forces and Iranian-backed militias that now occupy the region lack the proper and effective security management skills and ability. To make matters worse, the Iraqi government’s focus in this region has been forcibly changing the demographics, displacing Kurds and other ethnic and religious minorities, and replacing them with non-indigenous Arabs. This has been the Iraqi government’s priority, rather than fighting ISIS or returning essential government services to the Sunni Arab region.
The Iraqi government’s removal of Peshmerga forces from this territory left a security vacuum of which ISIS has taken complete advantage with terrorist attacks that have stretched from near the Iranian border area of Khanaqin all the way to the border of Erbil and Mosul in northwest Iraq. After the physical ISIS “Caliphate” was defeated in Syria in March 2019, many ISIS fighters fled to this region of Iraq, using the area as a place to reorganize and plot a resurgence of its larger regional insurgency. Much of ISIS’s recent attacks have been on security forces, with many of the attacks involving Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs). The attacks have seen an alarming increase in numbers, having especially risen in 2020. In the past two weeks alone, there were six attacks that targeted Iranian-backed militias and federal police stationed in the suburbs of Tuz Khurmatu. The most recent terrorist attack occurred on April 29 in Kirkuk City, where a suicide bomber targetted the city’s local intelligence office.
Most of these terrorist attacks and activities have taken place in Diyala. The Peshmerga forces were the main defenders of this area before 2017, but now the Iraqi government refuses to cooperate with Kurdish forces on security matters. The area near the oil fields between Erbil and Kirkuk have also been rife with ISIS activity since 2017. This is another region that has faced forced demographic changes and mass displacement of native populations by the Iraqi government and Iranian-backed militias.
Recently the spokesperson for the Iraqi Defense Minister announced the death of 88 security forces and 82 civilians by the hands of ISIS terrorists in less than five months. The casualties have mostly taken place in these aforementioned disputed territories where the Iraqi government drove out Peshmerga forces.
Anti-Kurdish policies strengthen terrorism
Just as what has happened in Syria, weakening and attacking the Kurds has only led to the empowerment of terror groups like ISIS and Al Qaeda, among others. The disputed territories in Iraq, now occupied by Iraqi government forces and Iranian-backed militias, were home to numerous terrorist and extremist groups between 2003 and 2014, before Peshmerga forces drove them out. These include districts — like south and west of Kirkuk, west of Diyala, north and east of Salahaddin, and east of Nineveh — where such extremist groups took thousands of U.S. and Iraqi lives. In June 2014, the Iraqi forces who manned these areas totally collapsed when ISIS first took over, capturing control of two provinces in the matter of two days. In response, Peshmerga forces deployed to the region, which is majority Kurdish, to combat ISIS forces. From June 2014 to October 2017, the Kurdish Peshmerga repelled hundreds of ISIS attacks, including one of the largest invasion attempts on Kirkuk in January 2015. Peshmerga forces succeeded in these battles without any support or aid from the Iraqi central government, which was derelict in its constitutional duty to provide Kurdish forces with salaries and other basic funding.
The Iraqi government, it seems, prefers putting economic pressure on the Kurds and creating an unstable region within its own borders (including four major provinces) to the mutually beneficial alternative of cooperating with the Kurds and creating a joint command structure. Despite the fact that the Kurdistan region has been the most secure area against terrorist attack and insurgency since its creation, the Iraqi government’s focus has been on ideological pursuits, political gamesmanship, and short-term economic interests. As a result, anti-Peshmerga rhetoric has continued throughout modern Iraq’s history. While this racist rhetoric was utilized by the Saddam Hussein dictatorship to perpetuate its Baathist ideology, it is now used to further an Arab Islamic nationalist ideology dominant in post-Saddam Iraq.
As a result of this political dysfunction, ISIS is reemerging — and more and more civilians, mostly Kurds, as well as Iraqi security forces, are being killed on a daily basis.
A more secure way forward — together
There is a mutually beneficial way forward for both the Iraqi central government and the KRI, a way that would better ensure security for all. In addition to coming to some form of political and economic agreement as a means to decrease terrorrism, the Iraqi government should work with the Kurdish Peshmerga on security matters as much as possible. There are a number of reasons why this cooperation should be pursued, including:
- The Peshmerga forces’ significant experience. Having battled ISIS in the region for more than 3 years, the Kurdish forces remain the most experienced fighting force in this regard. The Iraqi government’s forces could learn much from this experience.
- The Peshmerga forces human resources and local support. In many of these territories, Kurds comprise the majority of the population, with thousands of Peshmerga coming from these regions. As such the Peshmerga has a stronger connection to and informed relationship with the local populations.
- Security cooperation will ease political tensions. Such cooperation between military forces most likely will help facilitate political cooperation as well. For example, since October 2017 the Kurds have been left out politically in the region and this security cooperation could be the first step to normalize the situation and build more trust between the Kurds and Baghdad.
- Ease of Establishing a Joint Command. A joint command between the Iraqi forces and the Peshmerga forces can easily be established, especially since there are several professional brigades in both Kurdistan and Iraq that have been equipped and trained by the US. Such a joint operation would be a much more effective force than the sectarian militias.
- International interests. Such a security collaboration will serve international interests as well. It would have the backing of the U.S. and Europe. For example, US and European officials often praised the “unprecedented” cooperation between the two sides in the liberation of Mosul.
The Iraqi government must realize that the Peshmerga forces are a part of Iraq’s military defense forces. Security cooperation between Baghdad and Erbil will not grant the Kurds any special political leverage but will rather help save the lives of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, Kurds and non-Kurds alike. The Iraqi government will have little to worry about still, as it will likely continue to receive the biased support from the international community over the Kurds and other ethnic and religious minority groups in the country, just as in 2017 where the international community turned a blind eye as the Kurdish people were viciously punished for daring to aspire towards self-determination and independence.