Kurds Maintain Partnership to Fight ISIS

A U.S. Army M1A2 Abrams tank assigned to the 1st Battalion, 68th Armored Regiment, 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, fires during a live fire accuracy screening test in preparation for upcoming Defender 22 training exercises at Drawsko Pomorskie, Poland, May 11, 2022. Defender Europe 22 is a series of U.S. Army Europe and Africa multinational training exercises taking place in Eastern Europe. The exercise demonstrates U.S. Army Europe and Africa’s ability to conduct large-scale ground combat operations across multiple theaters in support of NATO. (U.S. Army photo by Capt. Tobias Cukale)

Despite Trump’s gross, and frankly bizarre betrayal of our Kurdish allies, Biden’s administration is recommitting to the fight against ISIS.

Assistant Defense Secretary Celeste Wallander met with Iraqi leaders this week to reiterate that the U.S. partnership with the nation, and to underscore the U.S. commitment to supporting Iraq in the defeat-ISIS mission.

More on our Kurdish allies

Wallander as who is the deputy secretary responsible for security matters and a new memorandum of understanding with Shoresh Ismail Abdulla, the Kurdistan Regional Government minister of peshmerga matters, on Sept. 21. The agreement sets out mutually agreed-upon parameters for the next four years while the U.S. continues to support to the peshmerga in Defeat-ISIS operations.

In Baghdad, Wallander met with Iraq Defense Minister Jumah Inad Sadun as well as other defense leaders. Wallander emphasized the long-term relationship that exists between both the United States and Iraq and talked about ongoing efforts to increase the operational capabilities of security forces in Iraqi Security Forces. She and Iraq’s defense officials considered expanding cooperation between the two countries beyond counterterrorism to tackle new threats and improve cooperation and interoperability.

Wallander later traveled to the Iraqi city Irbil where she met with Kurdish officials, including Nechirvan Idris Barzani, president of Iraq’s Kurdistan region, as well as commander in chief of the peshmerga.

The memorandum of understanding it signed with the Department of Defense continues the critical relationship with the peshmerga dating back to the first Gulf War. “For decades, we have worked together based on shared objectives and a common commitment to the mandate that all people deserve dignity, security and the right to seek a better future,” she stated during the ceremony of signing in Irbil.

The main threat today currently is Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. The terror group burst out of the areas that were not governed by Syria in 2014 and overpowered forces arrayed against it. It was the Department of Defense first signed an MOU with the Kurdistan Regional Government in 2016, when ISIS had vast swaths of the territory in Iraq to show DOD’s support for the peshmerga, as they and others Iraqi security forces joined the international coalition to free millions of Iraqis from ISIS terror.

“Since 2014, the U.S.-led coalition has supported Iraq’s fight against ISIS,” Wallander said. “Together, we liberated more than 50,000 square kilometers from ISIS control, including critical infrastructure and population centers in Iraq’s Kurdistan region, freed more than 4.5 million Iraqis from ISIS terrorism, and provided our Iraqi-Kurdish partners with recovery and stabilization support.”

ISIS no longer holds territory, but it continues as a shadowy terror group that targets the people of Iraq and the region. “The United States remains committed to supporting the Iraqi Security Forces, including the Kurdish peshmerga, to ensure the enduring defeat of ISIS,” she said.

The updated memorandum serves as an organizational framework for the assistance to combat ISIS assistance to the peshmerga — outlining DOD’s pledge to provide assistance and the Kurdistan Regional Government’s determination to continue reforms that modernize peshmerga forces.

U.S. forces remain in Iraq at the invitation of the government to advise aid and support Iraqi security forces. “We must continue to work together to protect the gains made against ISIS and set the conditions for the next phase of the fight by denying ISIS even the smallest opportunity to resurge,” Wallander stated. “This MOU will guide the Department of Defense’s future assistance to the peshmerga, which is a pillar of the department’s broader ‘D-ISIS’ partnership with the government of Iraq.”

“On this occasion, I want to offer my deep appreciation and respect for the tremendous sacrifices made by members of the peshmerga who gave their lives in the fight to defeat ISIS,” Wallander said. “The United States is cognizant of the cost of victory to the peshmerga, and we are honored to be your partners — on and off the battlefield.”

Trump Betrayal