Washington Kurdish Institute
By: Dr. Shilan Fuad Hussain January 18, 2022
Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman, the current Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Representative to the United States of America since 2015, and former KRG High Representative to the United Kingdom, recently sat down to answer a set of questions on the foreign policy challenges concerning Iraqi Kurdistan.
Described as “an ambassador without a country” because of Kurdistan’s statelessness, Rahman has risen from being a child refugee in London fleeing Saddam’s tyranny, to an award-winning journalist for 17 years, to the KRG’s lead diplomat in Washington, D.C. on behalf of the KRG. As a result, her observations carry insights which should be relevant to all those interested in the Kurdish question and its surrounding issues.
Q: What would you say are some of the biggest foreign policy challenges facing the Kurdish Regional Government at the moment?
A: One of the issues we face is both a domestic and foreign policy one, which is navigating the undermining of Iraqi sovereignty, whether it is from our neighbors Iran and Turkey, the PKK, or internal Iraqi actors such as the rogue militias or ISIS. This poses a challenge to us and to Iraq as a whole, to the stability and independent-decision-making of the state.
The conflict in Syria remains a risk in that it is an intricate arena where world and regional powers are battling ISIS, each other’s proxies, and supporting or countering the Syrian regime. Whatever happens militarily and on the humanitarian front in Syria will impact us. We support the rights of the Kurds in Syria and ultimately, we hope for peace and stability and a recognition of their rights.
Kurdistan is also not immune to developments on the international scene. America’s pivot to East Asia has begun in earnest and this could have an impact on Kurdistan, Iraq, and the Middle East. Great-power competition, for example, between the United States and China, and America and Russia, is unlikely to diminish and we need to watch where this competition will lead. We are also in a period of a disorderly world where we all face a pandemic, a rise in populism and tests to traditional partnerships.
But challenges can also be opportunities. One global threat we all face is climate change, added to that, Iran and Turkey’s water policies have had a harmful impact on water flows in the Kurdistan Region and Iraq as a whole. The heightened focus on climate by Washington and Europe provides a window for Kurdistan to benefit from the expertise and assistance that could be made available, and we hope that the federal government of Iraq can reach agreement with our neighbors on the fair sharing of water resources.
Q: As an autonomous region of Iraq, how much independence does the KRG have from Baghdad’s central government to carry out their own foreign policy?
A: According to the Iraqi Constitution, the federal government has authority over formulating foreign policy which means that official diplomatic relations must be instigated by Baghdad, for example, a country that wishes to open a consulate in Kurdistan must already have diplomatic relations with Iraq. In other areas, too, the federal government has precedence, such as signing treaties.
However, within that context, the Kurdistan Region is able to develop and strengthen diplomatic relations. There are close to forty diplomatic missions and offices based in Kurdistan and the KRG has fourteen representations abroad, including in Washington DC. Our leadership has had a history of independent outreach to other countries which was necessary at a time when successive regimes in Iraq were authoritarian and oppressing our people. That history had been helpful in our outreach today. The KRG representations abroad were established in the 1990s when Saddam Hussein was president, and our offices provided the KRG a way of having a voice overseas.
Today the KRG and the leaders of the Kurdistan Region are respected and have a high profile internationally. This past year, the president and Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Region were invited to have high level visits abroad and Pope Francis and French President Emmanuel Macron visited Kurdistan.
Here in our work in America, we have a respectful relationship with the Iraqi Embassy and both of us try to be inclusive of each other, but we also have our own independent outreach to the US State Department, Department of Defense, White House, Congress, and other institutions so that we can update our partners on developments on the ground and quickly deflect any potential issues.
Q: In what ways is the KRG currently collaborating with the United States government to defeat ISIS?
A: The Peshmerga are an integral part of the fight against ISIS, and we are proud to work alongside American and coalition forces. The Kurdistan Region has lost almost 2,000 Peshmerga in defeating ISIS and preventing the reemergence of the terrorist group.
Today, the United States continues to lead the global coalition to defeat ISIS. This coalition came together in 2015 and has grown in the number of members it has and in its geographic reach. The coalition focuses on the military defeat of ISIS but also on cutting its sources of funding and minimizing its online presence and ability to disseminate its narrative.
As of January 1, 2022, the US military mission in Iraq has transitioned to a non-combat one whereby America is advising and assisting the Peshmerga and Iraqi security forces in the fight against ISIS. This is critical to the enduring defeat of ISIS.
The US Congress has just passed the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act, the annual defense budget, which includes $260 million of assistance to the Peshmerga. This will help provide stipends to some of our forces and equipment such as surveillance drones, which are much needed. The United States is also one of several countries that are advising the Ministry of Peshmerga Affairs on its reform agenda. A unified, professional Peshmerga force is critical for Kurdistan’s future.
The United States is largest donor of humanitarian aid to Iraq, through the UN, other international organisations and through NGOs. Much of that aid is for the victims and survivors of ISIS, many of whom have taken shelter in Kurdistan Region.
Q: How has the war in Syria affected the foreign relations of the KRG?
A: The conflict in Syria and the fight against ISIS have together helped to raise the international profile of the Kurdistan Region. This is due to our Peshmerga helping to defend Kobani against ISIS, the people and government of Kurdistan opening our arms to the thousands of refugees fleeing the Syrian civil war as well as ISIS in Iraq, and the valiant stand of the Peshmerga against ISIS generally.
The KRG has also been proven to be a factor for stability and a reliable ally. The coalition’s operations and humanitarian work in Syria is possible with the support of the Kurdistan Regional Government.
Q: With talks of an impending invasion, can the KRG play a role in preventing future conflict between the Turkish Government and the Kurdish Administration in northeastern Syria, if so, how?
A: We hope that a conflict can be avoided. While the situation in northeastern Syria is far from ideal, further instability and clashes would lead to a new humanitarian disaster and demographic change.
Much is made of the ideological differences between the KRG and the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria. What is overlooked is that we are all Kurds and we have a familial bond that crosses borders. At the same time, we have good relations with neighbors and others that have a role in Syria, such as Turkey, Iran, Russia, and the United States. That gives the KRG a voice with all sides.
Q: What are some of the ways that the KRG attempts to balance the geopolitical interests and influences of the US, Russia, Turkey, and Iran? Is it possible to please all four of them simultaneously?
A: It is not a matter of pleasing others but of having the interests of the people of Kurdistan at the heart of our foreign policy. Our goal, like any government, is the security, stability, and prosperity of our people. We have proven over the past thirty years that the KRG has existed that we are not a threat to others and are in fact a factor for peace.
Q: What are some of the difficulties that the KRG faces in seeking international agreements since it is not an independent state?
A: Formulating foreign policy and signing international treaties and so on are the remit of the federal government of Iraq so that does limit the KRG. However, the Kurds are represented in the Iraqi parliament and federal government, so we do have some influence.
We have been concerned that in the past the Iraqi government has secured international loans without the KRG benefiting from them while the sovereign expenses that are deducted from the KRG’s budget cite loans as an expense.
We also find that sometimes the federal government is slower to act or participate in an agreement than we might like, so we have to use our internal influence to try to advance those agreements. Having said that, some governments and international institutions are aware of this situation and try to be inclusive in their agreements with Iraq by citing the Kurdistan Region in the agreements.
Dr. Shilan Fuad Hussain is visiting fellow at the Washington Kurdish Institute (WKI). Dr. Hussain is a cultural analyst specializing in Middle Eastern and Kurdish Studies and a Researcher at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy. She is an interdisciplinary academic and focuses on social and political contexts in cultural production and intellectual activity from gender and anthropological perspectives. Her current work sits at the intersection of sociology and literary studies and its symbiotic relevance to modern society.
Disclaimer: The views expressed here represent those of the interviewee and not necessarily those of the Washington Kurdish Institute