Although the $716 billion Pentagon request is yet to be rubberstamped by US lawmakers, and is therefore open to revision.
With Baghdad’s marginalization of Erbil following Kurdistan’s independence referendum and Kirkuk events, and the anticipated drawdown of US involvement in the anti-ISIS mission, the budget proposal indicates the Pentagon’s resources will be spent exclusively on bolstering Iraqi forces, again leaving the payment of Peshmerga forces to the discretion of the Iraqi government.
The proposed 2019 budget seeks $850 million to train and equip Iraqi troops and to create Ranger brigades to secure international borders. The Peshmerga could still be eligible for up to $290 million of that amount in so-called operational sustainment funds, but will ultimately be considered a component of the ISF.
By contrast, in the 2017 fiscal year, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) received $415 million from the United States, sent directly to Erbil in monthly installments to pay the Peshmerga during the war against ISIS in Mosul.
More recently, the 2018 budget requested $365 million to specifically fund the Peshmerga. However, since Baghdad took control of the financial and military resources allowed into the Kurdistan Region following September’s referendum, this money has still not been released as of February.
The United States expects ISIS to transition to an asymmetric approach that seeks to prevent Iraqi government consolidation of authority in liberated areas.
“The GoI’s consolidation of gains requires the effective execution of security-related tasks by the ISF – to include the Peshmerga, which are a component within the overall ISF – to set conditions for a stable environment," read the Department of Defense proposal.
US-led forces trained 26,000 Peshmerga troops since the anti-ISIS mission began in 2014. The Peshmerga — initially armed by Iran and then with the assistance of the US military and later the coalition — halted the ISIS advance in northern Iraq and helped facilitate the ISF’s advance and eventual liberation of Mosul in 2017.
“Improved performance on the battlefield by the ISF is an important indicator of a positive trend in ISF development as a self-sustaining force. However, the ISF still rely upon significant coalition enablers to achieve tactical overmatch against ISIS," the Pentagon proposal stated.
Peshmerga are enshrined in the 2005 Iraqi constitution. Kurdish leaders have requested more training from coalition members in an attempt to further professionalize their forces.
Acting Peshmerga Minister Karim Sinjari met with a high-level US military delegation from Baghdad earlier this month.
“The US does support a united Kurdistan Region and an advanced and professional Peshmerga force," Maj. Gen John W. Baker, the head of US Joint Security Cooperation in Iraq was quoted saying in a Ministry of Peshmerga official statement dated February 7.
Baker also “promised that the US and the coalition will continue to further the relations with the Ministry of Peshmerga and the coordination, training and consultation to the Peshmerga forces.”
