Congress threatens to cut payments to Iraqi Kurds if they break with Baghdad
The House defense bill makes continued peshmerga funding contingent on participation in a “unified Iraq.”
Congress is threatening to cut funding for Iraq’s vaunted Kurdish peshmerga fighters if the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) ends up splitting with Baghdad.
The House Armed Services Committee released a draft annual defense bill this week that makes continued funding for the KRG “contingent” upon Erbil’s “participation in the government of a unified Iraq.” This summary language is not legally binding but signals congressional intent to the Donald Trump administration.
“The committee notes that funding provided to the [KRG] is to enhance Government of Iraq-KRG cooperation and support a unified effort to counter the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL),” the draft National Defense Authorization Act reads. “Such funding should be contingent upon KRG participation in the government of a unified Iraq and on their continued good faith cooperation in the anti-ISIL campaign.”
At risk are hundreds of millions of dollars in annual US support for the peshmerga, who have gone without regular paychecks in the midst of the campaign against the Islamic State (IS) as Erbil struggled with a budget shortfall. Congress responded last year by allocating $480 million “in stipends and sustainment” to the peshmerga for the current fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30.
