A high-level delegation of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Peshmerga Ministry visited Baghdad at the request of US forces and met with the senior military commanders of the coalition, according to a source in the Ministry
The coalition delegation called on the Peshmerga Ministry to submit a report on the needs of the Peshmerga forces in terms of logistics, training and military intelligence within a few days.
The coalition also asked the delegation to provide full clarity on how long the coalition should continue to support the Peshmerga, the report should also indicate the consequences that are expected to occur in the event of the withdrawal of coalition forces from Iraq.
According to Channel8, the US warned the Peshmerga Ministry delegation that two more joint brigades must be formed by March this year, which has been delayed for several months.
A high level delegation from the US-led coalition visited the Peshmerga Ministry on January 29 to follow up on the outcome of the previous week’s meeting between the Kurdistan Region’s Presidency and the US Department of Defense and efforts made by the presidency to remove obstacles to the reform process in the Peshmerga Ministry.
In the meeting on January 29 between the KRG and the Pentagon delegation, the US insisted that the Peshmerga Ministry must unite its financial unit as soon as possible, otherwise it will suspend its assistance to the ministry.
In 2010, the sixth cabinet of the KRG established the Peshmerga Ministry, but the accounting unit of the ministry has not been integrated.
The KRG provides the budget to the Peshmerga in three portions annually: One portion for the Peshmerga Ministry, one portion for the 80th unit of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and another portion for the 70th unit of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) – the Region’s two main political parties.
The budget allocated to the KDP and PUK units is on an unclear basis and does not include the number of Peshmerga forces.
The US Department of Defense and the Peshmerga Ministry signed a memorandum of understanding in 2022. The deadline is in September 2026 and the reform process in the Peshmerga Ministry should be completed by then.
